The Congress will hold protest marches and a week-long campaign seeking Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation for allegedly insulting B.R. Ambedkar in parliament.
The opposition party will mark the upcoming week as Dr Ambedkar Samman Saptah and will hold marches and press conferences to remember the legacy of the Constitution framer.
Congress MPs and leaders will hold press conferences at 150 locations across the country on December 22 and 23 and workers will take out protest marches across the country on December 24, AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal said in a post on X.
"Our agitation demanding Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation will continue! We will fight to protect Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's legacy against the Manusmriti worshippers," he said.
The party will submit a memorandum to the President of India through district collectors demanding Amit Shah's resignation.
"All INC workers will garland Babsaheb's statue, hold his giant portrait at the front of the march and carry huge placards with our key demands," said Venugopal.
The Congress will hold an extended CWC session and a mega rally in Belagavi on December 26-27.
Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said both Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained unrepentant after the home minister’s “attack” on Ambedkar.
"The attack (against Ambedkar) came from none other than the home minister of India, the second most powerful man in this country, Mr. Amit Shah. He is unrepentant. The prime minister is unrepentant. We have demanded his resignation and this demand will be reiterated in these 150 press conferences across the country," Khera said.
Shah, while replying to a debate on the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha, had taken a swipe at the opposition parties for always using the name of Ambedkar.
“It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. If they had taken God's name so many times, they would have attained heaven for seven lifetimes,” he had said.
The opposition alleged that his statements had amounted to an “insult” to Ambedkar and demanded his resignation from the union cabinet. Shah, meanwhile, accused the Congress of twisting facts and distorting his comments in the Rajya Sabha.
