NEW DELHI: The second day of the special debate on the 75th year of the Constitution saw fireworks after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju attacked the Congress citing BR Ambedkar’s resignation letter to Jawaharlal Nehru and accused the party of humiliating him.
Rijiju said Ambedkar did not get any ministry related to economy despite him expressing his interest clearly. “Ambedkar told Nehru that his first priority was economy, but he did not get those ministries. He was also not included in any Cabinet committee. He was also not given a planning portfolio. He said he was not interested in an ornamental portfolio,” Rijiju said, adding that Gandhiji had asked Nehru to include Ambedkar in the first Cabinet.
The minister asserted that the Congress defeated Ambedkar in 1952 general elections and didn’t allow him to come back to the Lok Sabha. Rijiju suggested that the Congress should “apologise” to Ambedkar to “lessen its sins”. “Why didn’t you give Ambedkar Bharat Ratna?” he asked. He said that the chief architect of the Constitution was conferred with India’s highest civilian honour after a government supported by the BJP came to power at the Centre.
“Nehru is always for Muslims,” the minister said quoting Ambedkar. Citing a document, Rijiju said while Ambedkar wanted reservation indefinitely till equality was achieved, Nehru advocated for it to be in place for 10 years.
Rijiju cited Ambedkar as saying that while Nehru delivered more than 2,000 speeches in 20 years, he never spoke about the welfare of Scheduled Castes even once. “In 1961, Nehru wrote to all CMs that if we promote reservation, the talented will suffer,” he said.
Though the Mandal Commission report came out in 1980, it did not see the light of the day for 10 years, he said, adding that it was the VP Singh government supported by the BJP that implemented it.
