New Delhi: The BJP on Monday accused the Congress of running a smear campaign against Union Home Minister Amit Shah and said, instead of indulging in such “drama”, it should apologise for always “insulting and humiliating” BR Ambedkar.
It also accused the Congress of using out of context a small portion of Shah’s recent speech in the Rajya Sabha in a bid to “establish its political identity”.
The Congress has launched a weeklong nationwide campaign against Shah, alleging that he insulted Ambedkar with his remarks while participating in a debate on the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha last week.
As part of the “Ambedkar Samman Saptah”, Congress workers and leaders will hold marches and press conferences to remember Ambedkar’s legacy, the party said on Saturday.
Hitting back, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that the Congress, which “always” insulted Ambedkar during his lifetime, was doing a “drama” of remembering his legacy.
“The Congress, which always insulted BR Ambedkar, is holding press conferences across the country… Stop this drama. Stop this hypocrisy,” Prasad said in a press conference at the party headquarters.
“The Congress must tender an unconditional apology for all the insults and humiliations done to BR Ambedkar during his lifetime and to his legacy after his death. First of all, publicly apologise and then hold press conferences,” he added.
The BJP leader asserted that the people of the country were very mature. “Its (Congress) efforts will not succeed.”
Prasad said the BJP would hold press conferences around the country to “expose” the Congress by telling people how the party and its leaders insulted Ambedkar.
“We have all the proof,” he added.
The BJP leader also slammed Congress general secretary KC Venugopal for describing as a “badge of honour” the FIR against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in connection with last week’s face-off between ruling and opposition MPs on the Parliament premises.
“A case was filed against Rahul Gandhi for pushing and shoving (BJP) MPs and a Congress general secretary, who is very close to him, said it was a badge of honour in their fight to honour the legacy of BR Ambedkar… What a bundle of lies,” he said.
Gandhi is wearing “badge of dishonour for insulting and humiliating the legacy of Ambedkar”, he charged.
Prasad said the BJP believed that all those who made “some honest efforts” to build the nation should be respected.
“This is the difference (between the Congress and the BJP)… We honour even our staunch rivals who have tried to build the nation in their own ways. We published a book on EMS Namboodiripad [CPI(M) leader and Kerala’s first chief minister] when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister,” he said.
After the BJP assumed power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan was conferred with the Padma Bhushan and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) supremo Sharad Pawar the Padma Vibhushan, he added.
Asked about Jawaharlal Nehru, Prasad said, “The biggest proof of honouring our rivals is the prime ministers’ memorial and museum. Earlier, only Nehru’s memorial was there. Now, there is (a memorial of) every prime minister. The country should remember all the prime ministers.”
