A statement by the Union home minister and the closest confidante of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, has set the Parliament on fire. In a very demeaning manner, Shah had told the Opposition that “instead of chanting the name of [B.R.] Ambedkar if they (the Opposition) would have said God’s name they would have been granted heaven”.
After Shah’s statement, the entire Opposition demanded his resignation. The fact that Shah would not relent was apparent when he convened a press conference. The Opposition seems to be in no mood to relent.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on its part, has accused the Indian National Congress of insulting Ambedkar ‘historically’. Funny videos are circulating on the web showing how ill-informed the BJP folks are about the so-called ‘historical insult’ that was meted out to Babasaheb, as Ambedkar is fondly known, by the Indian National Congress.
As the tug of war goes on, we need to sieve through what Babasaheb stood for. First and foremost, we need to understand that if the forces of Hindutva were in power instead of the Indian National Congress, Babasaheb would never have been invited to lead and participate in the drafting of the Indian Constitution of free India.
