Thackeray to PM Modi: Apologise for Amit Shah's comments on Ambedkar

Nagpur, Dec 18 (IANS) Taking strong umbrage over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s comments on Dr B. R. Ambedkar, Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise for the utterances or quit, here on Wednesday.  

Thackeray, a former Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Chief Minister, played the tapes of Shah’s comments that have sparked a massive political row in Maharashtra and other parts of the country, especially among the Dalit communities.

Shah said that rather than chanting ‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, if you invoke the name of God, you will get heaven in seven births’ – that has kicked up a storm among Dalits and Ambedkar followers.

Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Thackeray said that Shah would “not dare to say such a thing unless prodded by the BJP-RSS”, and demanded to know whether Prime Minister Modi and Maharashtra Ministers in the Union Cabinet were in concurrence with it.

“Maharashtra has given two great sons to the world, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Dr Ambedkar who gave us the Constitution. After ranting ‘Nehru, Nehru’ for years, they are attacking Dr Ambedkar. We will not tolerate any kind of insults to them,” fumed Thackeray.

He said that Modi-Shah must apologise to the nation or quit for the slight to Ambedkar that has shaken the poor and downtrodden masses, warning that they will not forgive the BJP.

Countering Shah, SS (UBT) Deputy Leader Sushma Andhare declared that Ambedkar is indeed a divine personality for millions who worship him daily for his services to the downtrodden, the deprived and the poorest sections of society.

Other MVA leaders like Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) General Secretary Dr Jitendra Awhad, Congress’ state President Nana F. Patole and Dr. Nitin Raut, SS (UBT)’s Priyanka Chaturvedi and Sanjay Raut, and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi President Prakash Ambedkar, also attacked the BJP and Shah for displaying their “utter contempt for Dr. Ambedkar and the Constitution”.

Thackeray contended that the BJP -- which secured a brute majority in the November 2024 Maharashtra Assembly polls -- has continued to denigrate the icons like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule.

“A former governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had made objectionable remarks against the legendary Phule couple… The statue of the Chhatrapati (in Sindhudurg) crashed just eight months after it was inaugurated by the PM… And now Shah’s statement in the Parliament,” said Thackeray.

Lashing out at Shah, Thackeray pointedly asked Shah, “whether you will get Heaven by chanting ‘Modi, Modi’ daily”, adding that now the BJP’s attitude against the respected and venerated personalities 'has crossed all tolerable limits' in the past few years.