Congress dares CM to denounce Amit Shah for ‘disparaging’ Ambedkar

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K. C. Venugopal, MP, dared Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to denounce Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s allegedly disparaging comments about the late Dr B. R. Ambedkar, the iconic chairperson of the committee that drafted the Indian Constitution. 

In Thiruvananthapuram, Mr Venugopal told reporters that Mr. Vijayan seemed “afraid” of taking on Mr. Shah and was pussyfooting around the controversy. 

He said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs further denigrated Dr. Ambedkar by demeaningly juxtaposing his picture with a US-based business person during a demonstration outside Parliament House. 

Mr Venugopal said Congress will screen Mr. Shah’s “disparaging” speech in Parliament in village and town squares. “Mr. Shah had commented that incanting God’s name would secure heaven rather than repeatedly chanting Dr Ambedkar”, he added. 

He said that Indian democracy was in peril. The BJP-led Central government had systematically whittled down the Election Commission of India’s (ECI’s) independence. 

For one, the Union Government replaced the Chief Justice with a Cabinet minister in the panel that chose the Chief Election Commissioner of India. The Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition were the other members. “The rejig of the panel has stacked the decks in favour of the BJP’s nominee for the top constitutional post”, he said. 

Mr Venugopal said the Union government had recently amended the Conduct of Election Rules to restrict public access to the final voter’s list. 

He said the BJP’s move came after the INDIA-Bloc petitioned the ECI to release the electoral records relating to the recent polls in Maharashtra and Haryana, especially details of last-minute voting. 

Mr. Venugopal said the Centre had hurriedly amended the Conduct of Election rules after the High Court in Haryana ordered the ECI to release the documents sought by INDIA-Bloc allies. 

Congress activists would meet the District Collectors in the State and submit a signed petition seeking Mr Shah’s resignation. They would protest across the State and screen Mr. Shah’s speech in village and town squares.