The political slugfest over Amit Shah’s remarks on BR Ambedkar saw dramatic escalation on Thursday, placing the opposition atop the ‘Makar Dwar’ of parliament in protest and leaving two Bharatiya Janata Party MP injured due to what allegedly was the result of a push by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, reports Hindustan Times.
Amit Shah’s remarks on BR Ambedkar he made in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday have stirred a massive row, with the Congress-led opposition seizing on the comments to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government and also demanding the home minister’s resignation.
Amping up their attack on Amit Shah and the BJP-led central government, MPs of opposition camp ‘INDIA’ climbed the Makar Dwar of parliament on Thursday with placards demanding an apology and resignation of home minister.
Trouble began when the INDIA bloc members insisted on entering parliament through the BJP MPs holding a protest instead of using the space left empty on one side of the staircase of the Makar Dwar, used by members to enter and exit the building.
Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and his MP sister Priyanka Gandhi were part of the opposition leaders who protested on Makar Dwar.
Parallely to opposition’s protest in parliament, BJP MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi alleged that he was left injured after Rahul Gandhi pushed a parliamentarian who, taking him along, fell down.
‘Rahul pushed an MP who fell on me after which I fell down I was standing near the stairs when Rahul Gandhi came and pushed an MP who then fell on me,’ said Pratap Chandra Singh, who was being moved on a wheelchair with a handkerchief placed on his forehead, seemingly over a wound.
Mukesh Rajput and Pratap Sarangi, the BJP MPs injured, were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohiya Hospital over the injuries they sustained. While it was learnt that BJP was considering legal action against Congress over the matter, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also later alleged he was physically pushed in parliament.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, alleging he was physically pushed by BJP MPs, said in a letter to Lok Sabha speaker, ‘This morning INDIA party MPs marched from the statue of Dr Ambedkar t Prerna Sthal to Maka Dwar. This was to protest against the insulting remarks on Dr Ambedkar made by Union home minister in his speech in Rajya Sabha on December 17, 2024.’
The Director and Medical Superintendent of RML informed that Pratap Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput were in ICU, adding that a team of doctors is providing treatment to stabilise them.
Investigations like CT scan and others are undergoing, told RML MS Ajay Shukla.
‘MP Pratap Sarangi was brought to the hospital, with a deep cut on his head, and till the time of arrival at the hospital, had lost a lot of blood. ‘Doctors have stitched the cut for him,’ Shukla said.
‘Meanwhile, MP Mukesh Rajput, was brought with some head injury and high blood pressure. The team is providing all necessary treatment to the two,’ he added.
It all started from Amit Shah’s remarks on Tuesday in Rajya Sabha that Congress leaders would have got a place in heaven had they chanted the name of God rather than following the ‘fashion of repeating Ambedkar’s name’.
‘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 (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),’ Shah had said.
Amit Shah had also said the BJP is happy that the Congress is taking Ambedkar’s name but the party should also speak about its real sentiments towards him.
