Ambedkar remarks: Congress' protests continue; cops book BJYM leaders for vandalism

Nagpur/Mumbai, Dec 20 (IANS) The Maha Vikas Aghadi allies continued protests against Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his remarks on B. R. Ambedkar, while the Mumbai Police booked several Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leaders for vandalism at Mumbai Congress party office on Friday.

MVA allies Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (SP)-Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders and legislators staged vociferous protests outside the Maharashtra Legislature in Nagpur, carrying photos of Dr Ambedkar, raising full-throated slogans slamming Shah and demanding an apology.

The placards carried slogans like ‘Then We Fought the White Rulers, Now We Fight the BJP Goons’, ‘Bhakt Goonda Party’, ‘First They Broke Parties, Now They Destroy Party Offices’.

SS (UBT)’s Leader of Opposition in Council Ambadas Danve, Aditya Thackeray, Congress’ Nana Patole, Vijay Wadettiwar, Dr Nitin Raut, Jyoti E. Gaikwad, NCP (SP)’s, and other legislators joined the standing protests outside the legislature.

Patole also targeted BJP for starting a fake narrative by accusing Congress’ Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi of pushing around some BJP MPs outside the Parliament on Thursday.

“They claimed to have evidence of this but so far, there is no such video. Shah has committed the sin of insulting Dr Ambedkar and the Constitution which has generated huge anger among the masses all over the country. The BJP is diverting from the issues by attacking Rahul Gandhi” said Patole.

NCP (SP)’s leader Dr Jitendra Awhad and SS (UBT)’s Aditya Thackeray criticised the Centre for filing FIRs against Rahul Gandhi and accused BJP of adopting diversionary tactics while reiterating the MVA’s demand for Shah’s resignation or sacking from the Cabinet.

Wadettiwar claimed that BJP has "blurted out what was always in its heart" and the extent of their hatred for Dr Ambedkar is evident from Shah’s comments.

Patole added that the BJP doesn’t want any discussions on such issues in Parliament but is targeting two leaders (former PMs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi), who sacrificed themselves for the unity and integrity of the country.

On Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ statements that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra had links with Maoist groups, Patole retorted that if it were so, “then why did he fail to take action” when the two processions passed through Maharashtra.

“If Fadnavis indeed had such information, he should have acted if he was an efficient Home Minister… The truth is that he and BJP cannot tolerate the immense popularity of Rahul Gandhi and the epochal BJY-BJNY so it is indulging in this kind of false propaganda,” said an irked Patole.

They also condemned the ‘hooliganism’ of the BJYM – the youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party – activists who indulged in vandalism at Congress headquarters at Mumbai's Azad Maidan.

The Congress Mumbai held a separate demonstration on Friday to condemn the BJYM action of December 19, and many were detained and packed off in police vehicles.

Meanwhile, following a complaint lodged by Congress city working president Mandar Pawar, the Azad Maidan Police Station has registered cases against the BJYM city chief Tejindar Tiwana and another three dozen activists for Thursday’s mayhem.