Amit Shah insulted Ambedkar, he should be sacked and made to apologise: RJD

Patna, Dec 18 (PTI) Charging Union Home Minister Amit Shah with having “insulted” BR Ambedkar, the opposition RJD on Wednesday sought an apology besides his expulsion from the Narendra Modi cabinet.

Addressing a press conference at the RJD office in Patna, state vice president Shiv Chandra Ram, MLA Rekha Paswan and SC/ST cell chief Anil Sadhu also trained their guns at Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi, both Dalit leaders from Bihar, whom they accused of “smiling” in response to Shah’s speech in Parliament the day before.

“The language used by Amit Shah was unbecoming of his high office. We demand an apology from him for hurting the sentiments of the country’s 90 per cent population which revers Ambedkar. We also urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack him from the cabinet,” Ram said.

The former state minister, who unsuccessfully contested the Hajipur seat that was won by Chirag Paswan, also took potshots at the young leader, whom he did not mention by name.

“There are more than 100 MPs in Parliament elected from seats reserved for Scheduled Castes. I call upon all of them to resign in protest against Shah’s remarks. I also want the leader who is fond of calling himself the cub of a lion (‘sher ka beta’), keeps visiting Patna by air, and likes to remain in the news by targeting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, to break his silence in the matter,” he said.

Sadhu claimed Shah was unable to appreciate the contributions of Ambedkar “because of whom people like me, born to a cobbler, are able to build a life”.

“On the one hand, BJP leaders make a show of paying obeisance to Ambedkar, on the other they insult Ambedkar. I challenge the party to give up invoking the name of Ambedkar in its own discourse. Their duplicity must be exposed,” he said.

Sadhu also alleged that Paswan had, in the past, advocated scrapping reservations for the better off among the Dalits.

“Chirag Paswan and Manjhi are two leaders who claim to be champions of Dalits and used the image as a plank to build their family empires. I challenge these leaders to come clean on their collusion with the anti-reservation stance of BJP-RSS. Let them give up reservations provided in Constitution drafted by the Constitution,” he said.

The RJD announced a state-wide protest over the issue.

Meanwhile, state BJP spokesperson Arvind Kumar Singh accused the RJD leaders of having used foul language and lambasted the opposition party for “tying up with the Congress, which never respected Ambedkar”.

“The RJD wants Sharia law to be imposed on the nation, in matters related to marriage and inheritance. But, on account of the involvement of its own people in crime, the party will always baulk at provisions of stringent punishment, on the lines of Islamic law, for serious offences,” he claimed.

Congress general secretary-in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared a video snippet on X from Shah’s speech in the Upper House.

“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, taking a swipe at the opposition.

He was addressing the Rajya Sabha at the conclusion of a two-day debate on the “Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India”.