BJP not averse to promoting Ambedkar family in politics, says MP CM Yadav

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Tuesday said the BJP was not averse to promoting Dr B R Ambedkar's family in politics and accused the Congress of opposing the principal Constitution maker during his lifetime and ensuring his defeat in elections.

Yadav's comments came in the backdrop of a raging controversy over Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on Ambedkar in Parliament last week. Opposition parties led by the Congress have been holding protests demanding Shah's resignation for his remarks on the social reformer.

''We are not averse to it. Our party has become the world's largest party by associating with all. All are welcome, we are open to it. Their (Ambedkar's) family has established a party and we have taken a step forward to collaborate with it also,'' Yadav told reporters at the state BJP office here.

He was replying to a question whether the BJP will promote Ambedkar's family in politics in view of the saffron party's charge that the Congress had politically opposed the first law minister of independent India.

Hitting out at the Grand Old Party for trying to corner the BJP on the issue of Ambedkar, Yadav said ''Congress party leaders, including Jawaharlal Nehru (first Prime Minister), used to oppose him and ensured his defeat in the 1952 general elections.'' ''Later, in bypolls also (they) defeated him (Ambedkar),'' he alleged.

The Congress government had conferred Padma Bhushan, the country's third-highest civilian award, on Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar, the politician who had defeated Ambedkar in the first Parliamentary elections, and this exposed national party's dual character, maintained the CM.

Despite gaining worldwide recognition for his works, successive Congress governments at the Centre failed to award the Bharat Ratna to Ambedkar and the highest civilian honour was bestowed on him by a non-Congress administration posthumously only in 1990, he pointed out.

The Congress gave the Bharat Ratna to its own leaders and former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, but not to Ambedkar, emphasised the BJP leader.

Yadav said the well-known social reformer used to talk about the rights and welfare of the deprived, exploited and the poor, and Congress leaders, including Nehru, opposed him for this very reason.

''The double standards of Congress in the case of Dr Ambedkar have been exposed in front of people. The Congress considers Babasaheb only as a vote bank, remembers him at the time of elections. The Congress should apologize to the country for disrespecting him,'' he demanded.

The chief minister maintained the Congress is frustrated with its continuous defeat in elections and hence highlighting edited speech of Shah to defame him and spread lies among citizens.

He alleged the Congress had forced Ambedkar to resign from the post of law minister.

''The Congress should apologize unconditionally to the whole country for the insult meted out to Babasaheb Ambedkar by its leaders, including Nehru,'' the CM insisted.

Dubbing the Congress as ''anti-Ambedkar,'' Yadav alleged its leaders ''harassed'' the noted jurist and he had to resign from the Nehru cabinet.

''Whenever a person resigns from the Council of Ministers, he is given a chance to speak in Parliament. But after Babasaheb Ambedkar's resignation, he was not even allowed to speak in the House,'' the CM emphasised.

Yadav averred whenever a big leader passes away, his legacy is cherished, but Congress governments did not allow the construction of even a single memorial of the chief Constitution maker.

''The Congress did not take any steps to preserve the memories and legacy of Babasaheb. The party was engaged in naming hundreds of memorials, hospitals, roads in the country after its leaders like Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi,'' he noted.

The work of building Ambedkar's memorial at his birthplace in Madhya Pradesh (Mhow) started during the tenure of BJP Chief Minister Sundarlal Patwa and former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated it, Yadav said.

Former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar had approved a place in New Delhi for an Ambedkar centre, but the Congress did not allow the building to come up at the site, the CM maintained.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government came to office, the work on Ambedkar centre was completed, he said.

''Modi ji's government built a centre at the place where Babasaheb lived in London. Memorials were also built at his residence in Delhi, Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur (where he embraced Buddhism) and Chaityabhoomi in Mumbai (where he was cremated),'' Yadav pointed out.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)