Bhubaneswar: Congress will stage protests in all districts of Odisha Tuesday demanding Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation for his recent remark on BR Ambedkar during a debate in the Rajya Sabha.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress Bhawan in Bhubaneswar, Koraput MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka termed Shah’s remark as an “insult to the Dalits, tribals, and minorities”.
Shah has come under fire from the Opposition parties over his remark on Ambedkar in the Upper House of Parliament December 17.
“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.
“Ambedkar is like a god for the Dalits, tribals, and minorities. A tribal man like me would have not been able to represent Koraput in Parliament without leaders like Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,” he said.
Commenting on the alleged physical assault on two BJP MPs in Parliament, the Congress MP said, “When our MPs were trying to enter Parliament, saffron party parliamentarians pushed Mallikarjun Kharge and tried to attack Priyanka Gandhi. They registered 26 FIRs against Rahul Gandhi for this, which is unfortunate.”
Odisha Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rama Chandra Kadam also alleged that Shah hurt the sentiments of dalits, tribals, and minority communities by making such remarks on Ambedkar.
PTI
