STAFF REPORTER
Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah Wednesday hit out at Congress, accusing the party of presenting facts regarding his speech in Rajya Sabha yesterday in a distorted way. Briefing media at party headquarters in New Delhi this evening, Mr. Shah condemned the Congress for its attempts to distort and misrepresent his statement with regard to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. He alleged that the Congress party has a tendency to distort statements and create unnecessary uproar.
Mr. Shah said that the discussion on the Constitution in Parliament has left Congress with no answer to the charge that it is against Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, reservation, and the Constitution. He said that by imposing an emergency, the Congress violated all constitutional values. Mr. Shah said that he belongs to a party that can never insult Dr. Ambedkar, and it has always tried to follow his principles. He added that whenever the BJP was in power, it always propagated the principles of Dr. Ambedkar and worked to strengthen reservation. He appealed to the media to put his entire statement before the public.
Mr. Amit Shah said that the whole country expresses gratitude to Baba Saheb as he made a huge contribution in making the Constitution of the country inclusive and deepening the foundation of democracy in the country. He said, that during the tenure of the Congress party, no memorial of Baba Saheb Ambedkar was built, and when other parties came to power, they built the monument. He informed that the Narendra Modi-led government developed Panch Teerth in the memory of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. Senior BJP Leader Amit Shah also pointed out that Congress did not confer the Bharat Ratna on B. R. Ambedkar for several decades, and it was the central government, supported by the BJP, that finally gave the highest civilian award to him in 1990.
On Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s demand for the resignation of Mr. Shah, the Home Minister said even if he resigns, it will not end Mr Kharge’s problems because he will still have to sit in the opposition for the next 15 years.
Earlier, during a press conference in New Delhi, Mr. Kharge said that if a person becomes a minister by taking an oath on the Constitution and then insults it, he has no right to remain in the Cabinet.