Kharge demands Amit Shah's resignation over Ambedkar remarks

Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday demanded resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah from the Cabinet for the alleged disparaging comments he made against Dalit icon and architect of the Indian Constitution B R Ambedkar last evening.

Shah, while replying to the discussion on the 75 years’ journey of the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, ridiculed the repeated invocation of Ambedkar's name by the Congress and said if it had shown similar devotion to God, the party would have attained Him by now.

“Now, 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 for seven lives," the Home Minister had said, taking a swipe at the Opposition.

"Shah was suggesting that instead of taking Ambedkar's name, Congress people should have chanted the name of God", Kharge said, adding that the remarks could trigger off agitation across the country.

Claiming that in reality the Congress did not have much respect for Ambedkar, Shah said when then West Bengal CM B. C. Roy in a letter to then PM Jawaharlal Nehru expressed concern about resignation by Ambedkar and C Rajagopalachari from the Nehru Cabinet, Nehru had assured Roy saying Ambedkar's resignation was not much of a loss.

Talking to The Tribune, Sandosh Kumar, Leader of CPI in the Rajya Sabha, said one must take note of the tone of Shah when he made the controversial remarks.

"Shah's tone smacked of disrespect for Ambedkar", the CPI MP said.