Shah’s Ambedkar remarks: Congress takes battle to Modi's door, seeks apology for defending HM

New Delhi: Congress demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for defending Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks about Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar.

The party lamented that no FIR had been registered in its complaint regarding the incident where BJP MPs pushed Congress MPs, leading to the party president falling.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here today, Gaurav Gogoi and Pramod Tiwari, the Congress Deputy Leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, respectively, accused the BJP of behaving in a fascist manner.

Tiwari stated that the Congress has continuously said that the BJP and its leaders had no faith in the Constitution and its architect, Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar. He said what Amit Shah spoke in the Rajya Sabha about Dr. Ambedkar vindicated the Congress’ charge.

Tiwari said members of the ruling party were carrying sticks with their banners. He also alleged that the male BJP MPs tried to push aside and block the women Opposition MPs.

The Congress Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader also expressed surprise over the police not registering an FIR on their complaint about what happened with the 83-year-old party president. He said he, along with 15 MPs, including senior leaders Digvijaya Singh and Mukul Wasnik, had personally gone to the police station.

Tiwari said that while the FIR was registered on the complaint of the BJP, no FIR was registered on the Congress complaint. He said the Supreme Court has said that filing an FIR is the right of the complainant.

Gaurav Gogoi said that no matter what Amit Shah tries to do, his 12-second remarks about Dr. Ambedkar are going to always haunt him in the future. He said these 12 seconds would prove too costly for him. He observed that the choice of words by Shah and the tone and tenor in which those words were delivered revealed the real intention behind them, which was insulting and disrespectful towards Baba Saheb Ambedkar.

Referring to yesterday’s incident, Gogoi said that after the BJP MPs blocked the way of the Congress MPs and pushed them aside, which led to party president Mallikarjun Kharge falling, he (Kharge) had written a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker seeking an inquiry.

Gogoi said he had also written to the Speaker for an inquiry into the aggressive behavior of the BJP MPs towards them, but nothing had happened so far. He wondered what sort of friendship the Prime Minister enjoyed with Shah that he had to support what he said about Dr. Ambedkar and also defend him.

Gogoi asserted that the registration of an FIR against Rahul Gandhi was not going to deter him (Gandhi) or the Congress party, and they will continue to demand the apology and resignation of Amit Shah and also an apology by the Prime Minister.