Bihar Congress protests over Amit Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar

Patna, Dec 20 (PTI) Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh on Friday repudiated the BJP’s charge that two of its MPs have sustained serious injuries after being shoved by Lead of Opposition Rahul Gandhi at Parliament.

The Rajya Sabha MP, who claimed to have been present at the spot on Thursday, also alleged that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was pushed by some members of the ruling party.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a protest staged by the party against Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks about Babasaheb Ambedkar, the Congress leader said, “We demand immediate resignation and apology from the leader.”

“The entire nation is outraged. Protests are being staged across the country and effigies of Amit Shah are being burnt everywhere. His speech in Parliament was clearly aimed at belittling Ambedkar. It was reflective of the BJP’s contempt for the Constitution. The Congress and the entire INDIA bloc is not going to take this lying down,” said Singh.

The former Union minister was also asked about the fracas at the Parliament’s entrance, after which two BJP MPs landed in hospital and an FIR was filed against Gandhi for alleged assault.

Singh said, “I was present at the Parliament’s entrance. It must have been the first time in history when leaders of the ruling party had tried to block the ingress of the opposition members. In fact, it was our leader Kharge who fell down after being shoved and got injured.”

Speaking on the occasion, Congress legislature party leader Shakil Ahmed Khan took exception to the alleged attempt by BJP’s youth wing workers to attack the Sadaqat Ashram, the party’s state headquarters, on Thursday.

Pointing towards bamboo sticks that many Congress protesters were carrying, Khan said, “We would like to warn the BJP. This is Bihar. If they try to indulge in physical violence, we are ready to pay them back in the same coin.”

He also claimed that the BJP’s charge against Gandhi was false, and, without naming Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), he quipped that “it is not for nothing that even allies had called them ‘badka jhutha’ (big liar) party”.