Ambedkar row: BJP cites old Pitroda post on social media to counter oppn

NEW DELHI: Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday cited an old post by Sam Pitroda to counter Congress, amidst a heated political debate over Union minister Amit Shah’s remarks about Ambedkar in Parliament.

Rijiju highlighted a previously deleted social media post where Pitroda had said that “Jawaharlal Nehru contributed to the drafting of the Constitution more than BR Ambedkar.”

“This is the view of Congress Party on Babasaheb Dr. BR Ambedkar Ji,” Rijiju said in a post on X.

Previously, Pitroda had supported an article by Sudheendra Kulkarni, a former associate of BJP’s LK Advani, suggesting Nehru’s role in Constitution-making exceeded Ambedkar’s.

In his post, Pitroda had written, “Who contributed more to the Constitution and its Preamble? Nehru, not Ambedkar.”

“Babasaheb ka diya hua Samvidhan – Dr Ambedkar is the Father of the Indian Constitution is the biggest falsification of our country’s modern history,” Pitroda said.

This comes a day after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused Shah of opposing the Constitution made by Ambedkar and demanded his resignation.

“When Amit Shah was talking about Dr BR Ambedkar, he said ‘you people keep chanting the name of Ambedkar 100 times, if you took the name of God these many times, you would have gone to heaven 7 times’. This means that taking the name of Baba Saheb Ambedkar is a crime and his intention was to oppose the Constitution made by Baba Saheb Ambedkar,” Kharge said.

“I opposed this but I was not given the opportunity. Since proceedings of the House on Baba Saheb Ambedkar were underway, he decided to remain silent. I demand his resignation,” he added.

Earlier in his address in Rajya Sabha, Shah said that taking BR Ambedkar’s name had become a “fashion” now.

“Abhi ek fashion ho gaya hai – Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. Itna naam agar bhagwan ka lete to saat janmon tak swarg mil jata (It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’. If they took God’s name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven),” Shah said.

“If people took God’s name as much, they would get a place in heaven,” he added.

“Take his name 100 times more, but I want to say what are your sentiments about him.”

Home minister Amit Shah responded to Kharge’s demand for his resignation, saying if he resigned it would not pull Congress out of the quagmire as the party “is set to remain in the opposition for at least 15 years”.

Amit Shah, who briefed the media to counter Congress’s charges over his Ambedkar remark, said that Kharge, being a Dalit, should “not have supported nefarious effort of the Congress” to distort his remark made in Rajya Sabha. “Kharge ji is asking for my resignation. If it would have made him happy, I would have resigned, but it will not end his problems because he will have to sit in the same place (in the opposition) for the next 15 years,” the Union home minister said.

Shah said it made him sad that Kharge bent to the pressure of Rahul Gandhi. “I am very sad that you have also joined this under the pressure of Rahul Gandhi,” the Union home minister said.

Courtesy : TOI

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