Uproar in Legislative Council over Amit Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar

Belagavi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s alleged remarks against B R Ambedkar created uproar in the Karnataka Legislative Council on Thursday, leading to repeated disruptions. Both Congress and the opposition BJP and JD(S) MLCs charged each other of “insulting” the architect of the Indian Constitu-tion.

Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti, who had initially said that he would allow discussion on the issue, later ruled that it cannot be allowed as the Union Home Minister, who allegedly made the comments, was not in the House to defend himself.

During a debate on the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha, Shah on Tuesday said, “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).”

As the House met for the day, Congress MLC B K Hariprasad tried to raise the issue by holding the photo of Ambedkar, to which Chairman Horatti said, “Let’s discuss after the question hour”. Harisprasad said the person who wrote the Constitution had been insulted, so it is better if the issue is discussed before the question hour.

To this, BJP MLC C T Ravi said, let’s discuss who insulted Ambedkar how much when he was alive and when he died. Who defeated him in the election should also be discussed. At this time, Congress MLCs led by Ministers Bosaraju and G Parameshwara said, leave old stories, discuss what happened now. Retorting, Leader of Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said, Shah has not insulted Ambedkar, he had instead spoken about how Congress insulted him. Some Congress members shouted “down down BJP”, “down down Amit Shah” slogans. There was heated exchange between the treasury and opposition benches.

Trying to end the stalemate, the Chairman said he would allow discussion after question hour. Ravi requested the chair to telecast the full speech of Shah made in the Parliament, which will bring out Congress’ “drama”, and there will be no need for any discussion.