New Delhi, Dec 20 (PTI) Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot on Friday said the BJP's "mask is off" with Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on BR Ambedkar as it was now out in the open as to what the ruling party felt about the primary architects of the Constitution, and demanded that the entire BJP should apologise over the issue.
Pilot also accused the BJP of staging a "fake drama" outside Parliament's Makar Dwar on Thursday to divert attention from Shah's remarks and said video footage of the alleged incident was not being released as the "truth will be revealed".
"I think it is for the first time we are seeing such sort of behaviour by the ruling dispensation. It is also a fact that all this fake drama is being created to divert the minds of the people from the disgrace that was meted out to Dr Ambedkar by the BJP and the government of India," Pilot told PTI.
He claimed that people were up in arms all over India about the "disrespect" shown to Ambedkar by the BJP.
"In order to cover-up the folly, is trying to create a false narrative. Why I am saying this is because never in the history of Parliament has this sort of action been taken by MPs of the ruling dispensation. If at all they are making these tall claims, why are they not showing the video footage of the alleged incident?" the former Union minister said.
"If there is any allegation of manhandling, why is Parliament not releasing the footage? They can't do it because the truth will be revealed," Pilot said.
He alleged that the ruckus was created by BJP MPs who were trying to stop Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge from entering Parliament.
"Filing false cases against the leader of opposition are pure tactics of distraction. But people see through it. On the floor of the House, the BJP has now openly shown disregard not only to the Constitution but to the maker of the Constitution who everyone is proud of," the Congress leader said.
All over India, people have realised that the BJP's "mask has fallen off" and what they really think and believe about Ambedkar and the Constitution have now come out in the open, he said.
"There is no proof, just allegations and now lodging of FIRs against Rahul Gandhi shows that they are completely rattled by the reaction among people of India to what they said about Ambedkar," he said.
Pilot said, contrary to the allegations being made by the BJP, ruling party MPs were blocking the way and stopped the leader of opposition from entering Parliament.
"The entire country is up in arms over the complete disregard shown to Ambedkar, he was mocked, humiliation was meted out to the man who is credited with writing our Constitution. How can anybody tolerate that?" he said.
"It also shows that the BJP and the government of the day say one thing and do another. Their true intentions have come out and their mask has fallen off. What we said earlier, the intention was to undermine the Constitution; the ethos, the values and the spirit of the Constitution are being challenged by the BJP," Pilot said.
"What they feel about the founding fathers of the Constitution is out in the open. The entire BJP should apologise about what was said about Ambedkar," he said.
On Thursday, rival MPs screamed and shoved in the forecourt of Parliament in unprecedented scenes of unruliness, capping three days of acrimonious debate inside the House over preserving the dignity of Ambedkar.
Two BJP MPs were hospitalised with injuries as Gandhi became the centre of the ruling party's accusations, including one by a woman MP who said he had "misbehaved" with her.
The Delhi Police registered an FIR against Gandhi after BJP leaders filed a complaint. A police officer said all sections in the FIR were bailable except Section 117 (voluntary causing grievous hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The incident, perhaps without parallel, started as BJP and opposition MPs marched towards each other over Shah's comments on Ambedkar.