India’s most powerful man has had to take the most unusual step of coming to the rescue of India’s second most powerful man.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday afternoon led an aggressive fightback to defend Amit Shah against a fierce attack from a surprisingly united Opposition seeking the home minister’s scalp for “insulting” Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar, the Father of the Constitution.
Modi’s heft, however, did not appear to be an adequate defence. As the politically sensitive issue snowballed with the Opposition stalling Parliament and Dalit and other marginalised groups and student outfits launching protests, Shah came out to defend himself in the evening, accusing the Congress of “twisting his remarks”. In a move that was both ironic and rare, Shah urged the media to discharge its responsibility of telling the “truth” to the public.
Modi posted a six-part thread on X in his bid to throw a protective shield around Shah, his closest aide since their Gujarat days, lashing out at the “Congress and its rotten ecosystem” for spreading “malicious lies”. Soon, other BJP leaders jumped in to
defend Shah.
“In Parliament, HM @AmitShah Ji exposed the Congress’s dark history of insulting Dr Ambedkar and ignoring the SC/ST communities. They are clearly stung and stunned by the facts he presented, which is why they are now indulging in theatrics!” Modi said in one of the posts, attaching a video clip of Shah’s remarks in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Modi, however, appeared oblivious to Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar that have agitated the Opposition led by the Congress. Replying to the two-day discussion on the Constitution in the Upper House on Tuesday, Shah said while slamming the Congress for repeatedly invoking Ambedkar: “Abhi ek fashion ho gaya hai — Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. Itna naam agar bhagwan ka lete toh saat janmo tak swarg mil jata (It has become a fashion to keep invoking Ambedkar. Had they taken God’s name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven for seven rebirths).”
The Congress had latched onto this remark on Tuesday night itself but the other INDIA bloc parties joined in on Wednesday. Led by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, the Congress and some other Opposition MPs staged a big protest on Parliament premises.
Holding posters of Ambedkar, the Opposition MPs raised slogans slamming Shah for “insulting” the architect of the Constitution. “Babasaheb ka apman, nahi sahega Hindustan; Amit Shah maafi maango (India will not tolerate this insult of Ambedkar; Amit Shah, apologise),” they chanted.
As the Lok Sabha commenced, the Opposition MPs trooped to the Well of the House and raised similar slogans.
The protest forced the House to be adjourned for the day. The Rajya Sabha was also stalled by the Opposition with slogans demanding Shah’s apology amid an effort by the Treasury benches to defend the home minister and accuse the Congress of “misleading the country”. The Trinamool Congress submitted a breach of privilege notice against Shah in the Rajya Sabha.
In his posts, Modi accused the Congress of being anti-Ambedkar and claimed that the party’s “malicious lies” would not cut ice among the people. “If the Congress and its rotten ecosystem think their malicious lies can hide their misdeeds of several years, especially their insult towards Dr Ambedkar, they are gravely mistaken!” the Prime Minister said.
“The people of India have seen time and again how one party, led by one dynasty, has indulged in every possible dirty trick to obliterate the legacy of Dr Ambedkar and humiliate the SC/ST communities,” Modi added.
As the row spiralled into a full-blown controversy, Shah drove to meet Modi at the Prime Minister’s residence amid a palpable sense of unease in the ruling dispensation. The INDIA bloc’s Lok Sabha election campaign claim that the BJP was out to change the Constitution had hurt the ruling party and it did not want to take any chances this time.
In the evening, Shah, flanked by BJP president J.P. Nadda and two other key ministers, held a media address at the party headquarters. An unusually defensive-looking Shah claimed that his remarks in the Rajya Sabha were being “twisted” by the Congress to mislead the people.
“I would also like to request the media to put my entire statement before the public…. In public life, it’s your (media’s) responsibility, too, to inform the people about the truth,” Shah said, repeating his allegation that the Congress was “anti-Ambedkar”.
Shah also stressed the BJP’s and its predecessor Jan Sangh’s commitment towards the Dalit icon. “I belong to a party which can never insult Babasaheb,” Shah said. “First the Jan Sangh and then the BJP have always tried to follow the principles of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Whenever in power, the BJP propagated the principles of Ambedkar and worked to strengthen reservation,” the home minister said.
He even made an outreach to Congress president Kharge, pointing out that he was a Dalit. “I would also like to tell Khargeji, since he hails from the same community as Babasaheb, that he should not have supported this nefarious effort of the Congress. I am very sad that he has joined this under pressure from Rahul Gandhi,” Shah said, not ruling out the option of taking legal action against the Congress for “tarnishing” his image.