Madhya Pradesh Congress President Jitu Patwari with party workers during the ‘Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Samman March’, in Bhopal on December 24, 2024
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday (December 24, 2024) launched attacks against each other, accusing the other side of insulting Bhimrao Ambedkar.
The Congress’ State unit took out protest marches in several parts of the State against Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent remarks on Ambedkar in the Parliament. Carrying placards and posters of Ambedkar and raising slogans, party workers who took part in marches in various cities alleged that the senior BJP leader had “insulted” the architect of the Constitution and demanded his resignation.
In State capital Bhopal, the march was led by M.P. Congress president Jitu Patwari, Rajya Sabha MP and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar, Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Singh, and Congress Working Committee member Kamleshwar Patel among other leaders.
Various other State leaders led the marches in their respective districts.
Speaking to reporters during the march, Mr. Patwari alleged that the BJP is anti-Dalit and anti-Constitution.
“RSS chiefs have repeatedly raised questions about the Constitution. BJP people have often broken statues and idols of Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s statues and idols. Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s constitution states that all citizens in this country have equal rights to eat, live and live freely, but the BJP even questions that. It becomes clear that basically the BJP is anti-Dalit, anti-Ambedkar, anti-Constitution. Therefore, Amit Shah should resign and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji should apologise to the people of the country,” Mr. Patwari said.
Hitting back, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said in the evening that the Congress had caused pain to Ambedkar when he was alive and even after he was gone.
“Congress gave Babasaheb pain at every step. They did not let him win the elections. They themselves took Bharat Ratna and did not even build a memorial for Babasaheb’s contribution… Congress’s feelings for Babasaheb Ambedkar are becoming clear and they are asking us to apologise,” Mr. Yadav said, speaking to reporters.
The BJP also shared a video from a recent Congress protest claiming that Mr. Patwari had insulted Ambedkar.
In the video, the Congress chief is seen writing something at the back of an Ambedkar poster while resting it on his knee.
“They will never get better…Congressmen learned the game of insulting Ambedkar from Nehru ji. Jeetu Patwari proved by placing Ambedkar ji’s picture on his feet in public that Ambedkar ji’s picture is just a piece of paper for him. On the sacred land of Hindustan, Nehru ji and his Congress have always used Ambedkar ji and Dalits for political gains,” former State Minister and senior BJP leader Narottam Mishra said in an X post.
In the recently concluded Parliament session, Mr. Shah had 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).”
The remarks had created heavy uproar inside the Parliament along with protests in the premises. The Congress has now planned to take the matter to streets in parts of the country.
Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) workers also carried out demonstrations against Mr. Shah’s remarks in various districts across the State.
The Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress will also carry out foot marches in 53 districts of the State from December 25 to 29.
Published – December 25, 2024 02:51 am IST
