Mayawati slams BJP, Congress amid ongoing protests against remarks over Ambedkar

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 22 (ANI): Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress were “two sides of the same coin,” alleging that both of the parties have been engaged in politics in the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar.

The BSP chief also referred to the ongoing protests against Union Home Minister Amit Shah who has been in the eye of the storm. Opposition parties have accused Shah of showing disrespect towards Ambdedkar, a charge denied by the senior BJP leader.

Taking to X ahead of the party’s call for a nationwide protest on December 24 over the remarks against Ambedkar, Mayawati stated in a post on X that there is huge outrage among the people of the country over the disrespect shown to the most revered Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar by Amit Shah in the Parliament.”

She hit out at Congress and called their stand on the Ambedkar row as “pure deception” and “politics of selfishness”.

“Congress and BJP etc. are two sides of the same coin when it comes to doing politics for the votes of followers of Baba Saheb in his name. All the parties are engaged in a conspiracy to harm BSP,” the BSP chief alleged.

“In reality, great saints, gurus and great men born in Bahujan Samaj including Baba Saheb got full respect and honour only in the BSP government, which these casteist parties cannot digest. SP changed the names of new districts, new institutions and public welfare schemes etc. out of malice,” she said.

Shah had reportedly said in Rajya Sabha, “If they (opposition) had taken the name of God so many times instead of Ambedkar, they would have got heaven for seven lives.”

Following the remarks made by Shah, the Parliament witnessed parallel protests from both the Treasury and Opposition benches outside the parliament on Thursday morning, which led to a huge scuffle between the two sides with two BJP MPs, Pratap Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput sustaining injuries.

The ruling BJP MPs were protesting in the Parliament’s premises against the Congress party for “insulting” Babasaheb Ambedkar. INDIA Bloc MPs led by Rahul Gandhi held a protest in the Parliament premises and demanded the resignation of Shah over his remarks on Ambedkar.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge also alleged that he was pushed by BJP MPs while he was trying to enter Parliament in what turned out to be a face-off between Congress and BJP MPs during their protests.