NewDelhi: Controversy has arisen involving comments made about Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the main framer of the Indian Constitution. Last year, opposition parties united by Congress, as recently as the apex court hearings, critiqued Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar for not speaking the truth during a parliamentary debate on India’s 75 years of constitutional legacy in Rajya Sabha. However, in return, the BJP continued to come up with fresh charges and posted a previous scribble by the Indian Overseas Congress chief Sam Pitroda wherein he questioned Ambedkar’s title ‘Father of the Constitution.’.
The parliamentary session saw Amit Shah dismiss what he called the current trend of invoking Ambedkar in political rhetoric. He said: Now in this country there is a craze or trend of saying Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. If one had taken God’s name this many times, then surely they would have earned heaven for seven lives. In response to this comment, leaders of the opposition parties fired and described it as a sign of disrespect to the efforts of Ambedkar.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh posted a video clip of Shah’s speech on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to claim that the BJP is trying to erase Ambedkar from the history of draughting the constitution.
Taking the attack further, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticised the BJP for having a casteist and anti-Dalit mindset. Later in a post on X, Banerjee condemned Shah soon after he insulted Ambedkar, reminding him that while Parliament debated 75 years of the Constitution, the home minister chose to discredit the country’s image in the ‘temple of democracy.’.
She went on to say this more as, “This is the real BJP mindset.” Imagine what gu_reward these people would wreak if they realise their ambition of getting 400 parliamentary seats. They are attempting to obliterate Dr. Ambedkar completely out of history altogether.”
On Thursday, AAP, which has been facing a lot of flak itself, vented about a six-month-old controversy by sharing a tweet by Sam Pitroda, a known associate of Rahul Gandhi. In his post, Pitroda, January 26, he had averred, “Who wrote the most for the Constitution? Nehru, not Ambedkar. This claim that Dr. Ambedkar was the father of the Indian Constitution is the biggest lie in modern Indian history.” He said that the BJP utilised this post to criticise the Congress and accuse it of the hypocrisy in the celebration of Ambedkar’s work.
This was said by Rahul Gandhi’s guru, the BJP said in a statement. Sam Pitroda shamelessly trivialised Babasaheb’s contributions and went on to the extent of dismissing him as far from being considered as the Father of the Constitution. Rahul Gandhi must ask him to apologise.
The Congress, the Trinamool Congress, and other opposition parties upped the ante and demanded an apology from the home minister. They claimed that Shah’s comments, coupled with his seeming disrespect of Ambedkar, are detrimental to the Indian constitution and are unkind to the Dalit legend.
While Indians discuss the constitutional development of the country during the parliamentary session, the political slugfest as to Ambedkar’s relevance to the nation stands out. The Opposition saw its opportunity to stake a claim to a false custodianship of Ambedkar’s legacy, just as the BJP has tried to mobilise a defence against the casteist prejudice accusations.
This latest episode shows how the narrative of Ambedkar’s legacy has thrown two opposite poles, both of which claim to be the flag bearers of the Babasaheb’s dream of a democratic India.
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