Assam Cong MPs demand Shah’s resignation over remarks on Ambedkar

Guwahati/ Nagaon, Dec 23 (PTI) Assam Congress MPs on Monday demanded the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah for allegedly making derogatory remarks about BR Ambedkar.
    Shah has come under fire from the Congress over his remark on Ambedkar in the Upper House of Parliament on December 17.
    "Abhi ek fashion ho gaya hai - Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. Itna naam agar bhagwan ka lete to saat janmon tak swarg mil jata (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 got a place in heaven)," Shah had said.
    "We told Shah that he was wrong but he didn’t accept it. The next day we condemned it and urged for an apology. But he is so proud that he didn’t apologise to the public even. Their hatred towards Babasaheb Ambedkar, disregard for the Constitution is clear now," Jorhat MP Gaurav Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati.
    "While we were raising matters of public interest, the BJP leaders were trying to only defame Pandit Nehru. They don’t have a reply to issues of Adani, Manipur, flood and erosion, China, which we raised. Shah forgot that he was speaking in Parliament. It was as if he was talking with friends in his drawing room. His words have gone into the records of Parliament, the video has gone viral," the Congress MP maintained.
    Gogoi said the Congress has organised over 120 press conferences across the country over the issue and will continue with its demand through various programmes.
    "'Ambedkar Samman Yatras' are being planned across the country on Tuesday and a 'Jai Bhim Jai Sambidhan' rally in Karnataka on Wednesday," he added.
    Gogoi, who is the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, maintained that the two-day discussion on the Constitution in Parliament happened at the initiative of the Congress.
    Addressing a press conference in Nagaon, MP Pradyut Bordoloi condemned the purported defamatory remarks of Shah. "The Constitution, which binds us together, was rejected by the RSS in its initial years. And this BJP-led government is working on the directions of the RSS," he claimed.
    Bordoloi also demanded an apology or resignation from Shah.Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, in a press conference at Goalpara, also condemned the remarks by Shah. "The discussion on the Constitution in Parliament happened at the behest of the Congress. And during it, Shah had belittled Ambedkar. We demand that he should apologise for it or resign as the home minister," Hussain said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)