Has Home Minister Amit Shah offered an opportunity to the Congress Party to get the entire opposition rallied behind it? The motor-mouthed BJP stalwart provided the opposition coalition of INDIA an opportunity to consolidate at a time when it was crisis-ridden and disjointed from within.

All the hell broke when Amit Shah said something in Lok Sabha that was considered an insult to Dr. B R Amedkar. Trying to drive the point home that the Congress did not respect the messiah of Dalits, but used his name to reap political dividends, he 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.”

Loosely translated, it means, “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.”

PM Modi Adds Fuel To Fire

Worse, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped out to defend his close confidante and old-time political lieutenant. Taking to X, he wrote in a post, “If the Congress and its rotten ecosystem think their malicious lies can hide their misdeeds of several years, especially their insult towards Dr. Ambedkar, they are gravely mistaken!”

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He wrote in the same post on the social media platform, “The people of India have seen time and again how one Party, led by one dynasty, has indulged in every possible dirty trick to obliterate the legacy of Dr. Ambedkar and humiliate the SC/ST communities.”

It Snowballs Into Major Issue

The Congress did not miss the opportunity that snowballed into a major controversy. While Rahul Gandhi demanded the resignation of the Home Minister, its floor leaders in both houses of the Parliament reached out to other parties, who rallied behind it in the name of Ambedkar.

The proceedings of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were disrupted and the house came to a standstill. The Congress also announced to hold nationwide protest against what they called “an insult to Babasaheb Ambedkar”.

Opposition Parties On Streets

Consequently, demonstrations were held in Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. AAP Convener and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and hundreds of supporters of his party gathered outside the BJP office and raised the slogan, “Amit Shah maafi mango, Amit Shah sharm karo”.

Ambedkar’s Grandson Slams BJP

Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar, who also heads Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, said that the statement of Amit Shah reflects “same old mentality”

Alleging that the saffron party “will continue to sulk’ as they aren’t able to ‘fulfil their plans’ due to Dr Ambedkar, he said, “Before the BJP came into existence, its forerunners Jan Sangh and RSS had opposed Babasaheb while the Constitution was being adopted.”

RJD Joins Hands With Congress

Rashtriya Janata Dal Supremo and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said, Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav also slammed Amit Shah and went to the extent of saying that he has gone mad, and should resign and renounce politics.

TMC Boss Mamata Banerjee Backs Congress

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who had recently challenged Congress’ supremacy in the INDIA and offered to lead the opposition coalition replacing Rahul Gandhi joined hands with the Grand Old Party in slamming the BJP.

Also Read: Congress-TMC Strife: Is Mamata Banerjee Answer To INDIA’s Leadership Crisis?
She said that Amit Shah’s comment “is a display of BJP’s CASTEIST and ANTI-DALIT mindset.: She also said if this is how the saffron party behaves after being reduced to 240 seats, one can imagine the damage they would’ve inflicted if their dream of 400 seats had been realised.

The West Bengal Chief Minister alleged that the BJP had rewritten history to entirely erase Dr. Ambedkar’s contributions.

Amit Shah’s Earlier Guffaw

Earlier too, Amit Shah had put his foot into his mouth. Moving the motion to annul Article 370 in the Parliament in August 2019, he said that soon India would also capture Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin.

Political analysts believe Beijing took it too seriously and sent its forces that captured part of Indian territory in Ladakh. Media reports suggest, PM Modi was angry over Shah’s statement and kept him out of public glare for quite some time.

The Home Minister’s recent statement on Ambedkar has served Congress which was desperate to take back the Opposition’s support. The INDIA bloc too was facing a crisis after it suffered electoral reverses in recently-held state assembly elections. Now, they have bounced back.