Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday quoted from the selected works of Jawaharal Nehru to counter the Opposition fire on him for alleged disparaging remarks about Dr BR Ambedkar.

“Nehru turned down a proposal from then Bombay Mayor to erect a memorial on Ambedkar in his birthplace Mhou, saying it should come from the family,” said Shah, addressing a news conference at the BJP headquarters. “The same family kept awarding itself the Bharat Ratna year after year.”

Congress leaders gave Bharat Ratna to their leaders, and it was in 1990 when a non-Congress government came to power that gave the award to BR Ambedkar, alleged Shah.

Shah said the Congress had no answers to the criticism it faced over the discussion on the Constitution and resorted to twisting his words.

“How Congress opposed Ambedkar, how Congress ridiculed Ambedkar, how they made every effort to defeat Ambedkar elections has been exposed. Despite the assurances of Nehru, he (Ambedkar) was not given any important portfolio in the first cabinet,” Shah said.

Calling the Congress an anti-Ambedkar party, Shah said discussion should be based on fact, and the party was twisting facts.

Nehru withheld any important department from Ambedkar despite his assurances, said Shah as he outlined how the BJP government has made the reservation more robust.

The controversy kicked off on Tuesday when Shah said in a Hindi speech in the Parliament that taking the name of Ambedkar has become a fashion.

“Honourable sir, there is a fashion. Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. If they would take god’s name so much, they could have got heaven for seven births. It’s a good thing,” Shah had said.

“My speech, which was clear and without any confusion, is on Rajya Sabha record,” Shah said in the news conference.

His remarks sparked a political storm with the Opposition leaders calling his statement “obscene”, “weird” and the Trinamul submitting a privilege notice against Shah.

“You should listen to the whole statement. It is like an obscene statement,” RJD leader Manoj Jha told PTI Videos. “He will have to apologise to the entire country, the Parliament.”

The controversy forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to react on X. “The list of the Congress' sins towards Dr. Ambedkar includes: Getting him defeated in elections not once but twice. Pandit Nehru campaigning against him and making his loss a prestige issue. Denying him a Bharat Ratna. Denying his portrait a place of pride in Parliament’s Central Hall,” Modi wrote.

Earlier in the day, the Congress had a meeting of its party MPs to discuss “the insult by Amit Shah to B.R. Ambedkar.”

“Yesterday, he was very aggressive in his insult to B.R. Ambedkar. It is an insult to each one of us who believe in social justice. We know that Amit Shah comes from background of Manuvad, and Savarkar ideology. They will celebrate the Manuvad, and Savarkar ideology, but they won’t recognise the hard work, and sacrifices of BR Ambedkar. They are getting angry on the word Ambedkar, we will repeat ‘Ambedkar, Ambdekar’ to him in Parliament.” Congress leader Manickam Tagore said.

Protests from the Opposition members who demanded an apology from Shah rocked the Rajya Sabha.

The grandson of BR Ambedkar, Prakash Ambedkar found nothing new in Shah’s statement.

“There is nothing new in the statement. They are not able to execute their old plans. Not because of Congress, but because of Babasaheb Ambedkar and they will continue to sulk,” he said.

Congress President and leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge raised a poster of Ambedkar. Later, in a news conference, Kharge said that the Prime Minister should sack Amit Shah from Cabinet if he doesn’t quit on his own.

“If my resignation makes Kharge ji happy I can give but this won’t solve his troubles; he has to remain in opposition for 15 more years.” Shah said in the news conference in response to Kharge.