New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his recent speech in Parliament, calling his remarks “far from the truth.” Kharge accused Shah of using the platform solely to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also alleged that the BJP was attempting to divert public attention. 

Reacting to the introduction of the ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill in the Lok Sabha, he stated that both its advantages and drawbacks need to be debated.  

“When the bill comes up for discussion then we will talk about its advantages and drawbacks. It has to be discussed after meeting with everyone. Everyone has opted together for the introduction, we will speak about it in Parliament,” IANS quoted Kharge as saying. 

Kharge’s remarks came after the home minister’s parliamentary address on Tuesday over the 75 years of Constitution, during which Shah lashed out at the Congress party of appeasement politics. He slammed the Congress for making constitutional amendments to empower ‘one family’ while the Bharatiya Janata Party made amendments to empower citizens. Shah said Congress amended the Constitution 77 times in its 55 years of rule whereas the BJP made 22 changes in 16 years. 

BJP, Congress Spar Over Ambedkar 

Reacting to Amit Shah’s speech, the Congress party accused Home Minister of displaying a deep ‘hatred’ for B.R. Ambedkar in his remarks during a Rajya Sabha debate on the Constitution. The party demanded an apology from Shah, blaming the BJP and RSS leaders for their negative stance toward Ambedkar. 

In a post on ‘X’, Kharge accused Amit Shah of insulting BR Ambedkar. Kharge stated, “The insult of Babasaheb by the home minister has once again proven that the BJP-RSS were against the tricolour, their forefathers opposed the Ashok Chakra, and the people of the Sangh Parivar wanted to implement Manusmriti instead of the Constitution of India from the very first day.” 

“Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar Ji did not allow this to happen, that is why there is so much hatred towards him,” he added. 

“The ministers of the Modi government should understand carefully that for crores of people like me, Babasaheb Ambedkar is no less than God… He is and will always be the messiah of Dalits, tribals, backward classes, minorities and the poor,” Kharge’s post in Hindi read.

Amit Shah had claimed that the Congress party is hiding its true sentiments about Dr. BR Ambedkar.  

“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 said, taking a swipe at the opposition. He claimed Ambedkar had to resign from the first Cabinet because he disagreed with the Congress-led government’s policies, including Article 370.