After Adani and Sambhal, the Opposition took up Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ramoji Ambedkar as its weapon to target the Narendra Modi-led government on Wednesday.

Opposition MPs held up posters of the father of the Indian Constitution, demanding Union home minister Amit Shah’s apology over what they called his disparaging remarks about the tallest Dalit leader.

“Honourable sir, there is a fashion,” Shah had said in his speech in Hindi on Tuesday. “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,” he added.

The Opposition did not agree.

"You should listen to the whole statement, it is like an obscene statement,” RJD leader Manoj Jha told PTI Videos. “We don't want a paradise, this land should become a paradise; the same was the thought of B.R. Ambedkar. What he [Shah] had in his heart has come to his tongue. He will have to apologise to the entire country, the Parliament."

Another Congress leader, Bhai Jagtap, called the Union home minister’s remarks “really shocking, weird”.

“How can someone comment on B.R. Ambedkar? They are in power because of the Constitution, they should not forget this,” he said.

“This is the real RSS, they don't have anything to do with Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, B.R. Ambedkar, because their agenda is fixed, ONOE [one nation, one election] bill is their next step. The people of India won't let it happen. It shows how much they hate B.R. Ambedkar. There should be a stop to all these things. This is sheer arrogance of power," he added.

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said Shah spoke about Ambedkar “in a very disparaging manner”.

“It only shows that deep inside they have no respect for Dr Ambedkar's position or the issues that Dr Ambedkar was raising during his lifetime,” he said.

Congress leader Manickam Tagore said a meeting of his party MPs was called in the morning 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."