The Opposition Congress held a protest rally in Tripura’s capital on Tuesday demanding Union Home Minister Amit Shah resign and apologise for his recent remarks about B R Ambedkar.
The rally was organised under the banner of Baba Saheb Ambedkar Samman Yatra as part of a nationwide agitation by the Congress, where hundreds of party supporters condemned Shah’s remarks as being disgraceful to the principal framer of the Constitution.
After moving across the streets of Agartala, the rally concluded in front of the West Tripura district magistrate’s office, where a Congress delegation submitted a memorandum addressed to the President of India, seeking strong action against the BJP leader.
“Abhi ek fashion ho gaya hai — Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar… Itna naam agar Bhagwan ka lete toh saat janmon tak swarg mil jata (There is a fashion these days — Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar… Had you chanted the name of God these many times, you would have been blessed with heaven in seven births),” Shah said in response to a two-day debate in the Rajya Sabha on the ‘Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India.’ Shah also said, “We are happy that Ambedkar’s name is being taken,” before listing the Congress’s “injustices” towards him.
Congress state president Ashish Kumar Saha, MLA Sudip Roy Barman and others carried placards and posters of Ambedkar, raising slogans against the Union home minister. Similar protests were held at Belonia in South Tripura and Pabiacherra in North Tripura, among other areas, on Tuesday.
On December 19, Congress protesters burned Shah’s effigy in Agartala, hours ahead of his arrival in the state.