Chennai: Leaders of many political parties in the State came out strongly against Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his derogatory remarks against B R Ambedkar in Parliament and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for targeting the Congress for its alleged ‘sins.’
While Chief Minister M K Stalin, in a message on X, said that those who committed more sins alone should be worried about ‘punya’ (salvation) while people concerned about the country, its people and protecting the Constitution would only utter the name of Ambedkar.
Stalin was referring to Shah’s remark that if people had taken the name of God they would have reached heaven for the next seven births, while deriding the chant ‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’ as a new fashion.
Like Stalin, founder president of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) Vijay, too attacked Shah without naming him. Vijay said that for some random people the name of Ambedkar could be anathema but the people of India, breathing the air of freedom, regard him as a political icon, known for his scientific temper.
‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar,’ the name would be chanted always to the delight of the heart and the lips, he said and added that he would not allow the degradation of their ideological leader, while condemning the remarks of Shah.
Other leaders like VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan and Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, however, minced no words. Udhayanidhi Stalin said the Fascists were trying to destroy the Constitution given to the nation by Ambedkar and openly condemned Shah for saying ‘for whatever reason the name of Ambedkar was being invoked.’
The name of Ambedkar should be uttered hundreds of times in a raised voice even if that annoyed the Fascists, he said.
VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan said the descendants of V D Savarkar could not stomach the entire nation invoking the name of Ambedkar. Their collective antipathy had been revealed through the remarks of Shah, who had ripped off his own mask, revealing the real face of the Sangh Parivar.
The Sangh Parivar viewed the Congress and the Constitution as their real enemies, which the VCK had been exposing for a long time, he said, adding that the praise otherwise heaped on Ambedkar by those belonging to the Sangh Parivar was only aimed at hoodwinking the common people.
But that conspiracy of the Sangh Parivar would be reduced to ashes as the revolutionary leader Ambedkar had taken a new form to slay them, he said.
Filmmaker Pa Ranjit described Ambedkar as ‘a man who taught us to rise. He gave us laws, he gave us sight. He turned our darkness into light. We chant his name with grateful pride.’
There was also a widespread demand for Shah’s resignation on the X platform and other national political parties too came out against the remarks against Ambedkar. The CPI(M) said: ‘Amit Shah’s insensitive remarks insulting Babasaheb Ambedkar have once again revealed the casteist, Manuvadi mindset of the BJP-RSS.’
