New Delhi | Hatred towards names of Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, and Jawaharlal Nehru is the central element of the BJP-RSS ideology, which keeps surfacing, the Congress said on Wednesday, exactly a year after a political row broke out over Union Minister Amit Shah's 'Ambedkar' remark in Rajya Sabha.
The opposition party also said India's soul cannot be separated from the three historic figures of the freedom movement.
An intense political row erupted this day last year when the Congress and other opposition parties demanded Shah be sacked over his 'Ambedkar' remark, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi rallied to the minister's defence and said he had exposed Congress's "anti-Ambedkar" stand.
On Wednesday, Congress general secretary, in-charge, communications, Jairam Ramesh shared on X a video clip of Shah's remarks in the Rajya Sabha from last year.
"'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 says in the clip.
In his post, Ramesh said hatred towards the names of Gandhi, Ambedkar, and Nehru, their ideologies, and the aversion to those who invoke their names, is the central element of the BJP-RSS ideology.
"And this aversion and hatred keep surfacing from time to time. Exactly one year ago, the Union Home Minister could not hide his contemptuous views towards Baba Saheb Ambedkar in the full Parliament and publicly stated that 'taking Ambedkar's name has become a fashion...,'" Ramesh wrote in Hindi.
Today, one year later, the same agenda is being advanced by removing Mahatma Gandhi's name from MGNREGA, he said.
"And recently, using Vande Mataram as an excuse, an attempt was made right inside Parliament to belittle and defame Pandit Nehru. This effort continues relentlessly. The BJP-RSS want to slowly gnaw away at our democratic and constitutional tradition, which is built on the shared legacy of Gandhi-Ambedkar-Nehru," Ramesh alleged.
"But their greatest irony is this — no matter how much they try to erase, diminish, or defame, India's soul cannot be separated from Gandhi, Nehru, and Ambedkar. A new India cannot be forged by removing these names — because this democracy, this constitution, and this country stand on this very legacy," the Congress leader said.