Stepping up his attack on Union Minister Amit Shah for his comments about BR Ambedkar in Parliament, senior Congress leader and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday claimed that Shah would have been a “gujari” (scrap dealer) if Ambedkar’s constitution had not been there.
The Chief Minister said that if Rajya Sabha Speaker Jagdeep Dhankhar was really working according to the constitution, Shah should be suspended from the House immediately.
Reading out detailed statements in the assembly by both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress MLAs on the issue mid-day, Siddaramaiah said the entire country had heard the “insulting” words spoken by the home minister about Babasaheb Ambedkar.
During the debate on the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Shah said:It has just become a fashion – Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. If you take the name Etna from God, you will get heaven for seven births (It has become fashionable to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. If he recited God’s name so many times, he would get a place in heaven).
Saying that there was no surprise in Shah’s words, Siddaramaiah said it revealed what was in the minds of BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders.
“First of all, I congratulate you (Amit Shah). For openly and courageously revealing the inner thoughts of the Bharatiya Janata Party about Babasaheb Ambedkar to the nation and finally speaking the truth in your lifetime.”
‘Dhankar should have suspended Shah’
He said that if the constitution was not made, Shah would not be the home minister of the country but would be a ‘scrap dealer’ in the village.
Shah on Wednesday accused the Congress of distorting his comments on BR Ambedkar in the Rajya Sabha and distorting facts, and its smear campaign after the debate on the Constitution cast the opposition as “anti-Ambedkar and anti-reservation”. The Union minister also accused the Congress of adopting a strategy of “misrepresentation and distortion”.
Siddaramaiah also mocked Dhankhar for not taking action against Shah and said that if the Rajya Sabha Speaker was actually working under the Constitution, he should have immediately suspended the Union Minister from the House after his comments.
The Karnataka Chief Minister alleged that the constitution was the main reason for the BJP and the Sangh Parivar’s hatred of Ambedkar.
“It was Manusmriti in Indian society until the written constitution came into force, which legalized caste and gender discrimination. Babasaheb Ambedkar, who hoped for freedom, equality and fraternity, not only gave the constitution, he also burnt Manusmriti, the unwritten constitution that was in force till then,’ said the Chief Minister.
He said that on December 25, 1927, Ambedkar publicly burnt the Manusmriti and 22 years later he framed the new constitution.
‘BJP and RSS hate for Ambedkar is not new’
Siddaramaiah alleged that BJP and RSS hatred towards Ambedkar is not new.
According to him, the details of the statements made against the Constitution by leaders including RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, his successor Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar and Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar are in the pages of history.
Babasaheb Ambedkar dedicated the Constitution to the country on November 30, 1949. He pointed out that four days after that RSS mouthpiece ‘Organizer’ wrote an editorial against the constitution.
Siddaramaiah also read a portion of the article: “There is no Indianness in the Constitution written by Ambedkar. Even today the world respects the laws mentioned in Manusmriti. None of this counts for anything Pandit who wrote the constitution.’ “The RSS editorial wrote against the Constitution, mocking Babasaheb as a ‘Pandit’. The RSS is defending this editorial even today,” the chief minister alleged.
“Golwalkar also opposed Ambedkar and the constitution in his book ‘Bunch of Thought’, which is considered to be the constitution of the RSS,” he said.
Golwalkar wrote that after the Vedas, the most sacred book for the Hindu nation, the Manusmriti, has been the foundation of our culture, traditions and customs since ancient times, Siddaramaiah said.
Neither the BJP nor the RSS has rejected the “RSS editorial” opposing the Constitution and Ambedkar, nor the views of Golwalkar and Savarkar, he said.
Siddaramaiah said that Ambedkar was not a grudge, but an eternal memory.
“As long as we breathe, as long as there is sun and moon on this earth, Ambedkar’s memory will live on. “The more you insult him, the more he will retreat and he will light the way for our progress,” he asserted.
The CM reiterated that he and Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge would not have been in high office had it not been for Ambedkar.
Instead, he should have stayed in the village to graze cows and sheep, he added.
The chief minister said Shah tweeted his statement on the grounds that it was expected to blame the opposition.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi also came to his close friend’s side and gave a long statement. It was all expected,” Siddaramaiah told the assembly.
Congress MLAs placed photographs of Ambedkar on their tables, while the BJP displayed posters in the assembly, accusing Siddaramaiah of being anti-Hindu. Both sides raised slogans against each other.
Speaker UT Khader adjourned the House twice due to the strike.
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