Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of harbouring hatred and anger towards BR Ambedkar during a Rajya Sabha speech on Thursday. The remarks came less than a day after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP-RSS combine of ‘attacking’ the Constitution and trying to ‘hoodwink people by a show of deference towards Dalit icons’.
“It is well documented how much anger and hatred Congress had towards Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar. They never considered Baba Saheb worthy of the Bharat Ratna award… made all efforts to defeat him twice in Lok Sabha polls. But today due to compulsions they are having to raise the Jai Bheem slogans,” he said.
Modi also contended that his government was “realising the dreams of Babasaheb Ambedkar through PM Mudra Scheme”.
Meanwhile, a six-member panel submitted its probe report on Thursday following the vandalism of an Ambedkar statue on Republic Day. A youth vandalised the life-size statue in Amritsar by climbing atop it and striking it with a hammer. A video of the incident had gone viral on social media and also sparked a political war of words.
Union Minister and BJP National President JP Nadda had constituted a panel to probe the incident on January 31.
(With inputs from agencies)
