Amit Shah on Ambedkar : Congress, Edited Video and Fake Narrative
There was high-octane politics over a fake narrative created on the basis of a 11-second video from Home Minister Amit Shah’s speech in Rajya Sabha. Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party alleged that Shah had “insulted” Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar during his speech. Responding, Amit Shah challenged Congress to prove its allegation and urged media to show the complete video of his speech. At a press conference, Amit Shah recounted the times when Congress “insulted” Ambedkar during its rule. He named Congress leaders who hurled insults at Ambedkar in the past.
On the other hand, Congress workers staged protests in different cities and party president Mallikarjun Kharge demanded that Shah be dismissed from Cabinet. Kharge went to the extent of warning that “the country will be on fire” if Shah did not resign. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi joined the fray and lashed out at Amit Shah.
The Home Minister said, a 11-second portion from his 85-minute speech was edited and made viral on social media to mislead the people. He reminded how Narendra Modi accorded full honours to Ambedkar, while the Congress deliberately insulted the maker of the Constitution.
Both Houses of Parliament could not transact any business due to uproar. BJP chief J P Nadda said, Congress leaders became worried when Amit Shah exposed the “sins” of their party in Rajya Sabha, and they were trying to “hide their sins by taking recourse to lies”. Outside Parliament, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, along with Kharge and other Congress MPs staged protests, while party workers staged protests in several cities.
Since the matter was sensitive and related to Dr Ambedkar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reacted in a series of six tweets on X. Modi wrote, “if the Congress and its rotten eco-system think their malicious lies can hide their misdeeds of several years, especially their insult towards Dr. Ambedkar, they are gravely mistaken. The people India have seen time and again how one party, led by one dynasty, has indulged in every possible dirty trick to obligerate the legacy of Dr. Ambedkar and humiliate the SC/ST communities.”
Modi further tweeted: “The list of the Congress’ sins towards Dr. Ambedkar includes: Getting him defeated in elections not once, but twice, Pandit Nehru campaigning against him and making his loss a prestige issue, Denying him a Bharat Ratna, Denying his portrait a place of pride in Parliament’s Central Hall…. In Parliament, HM @AmitShah Ji exposed the Congress’ dark history of insulting Dr. Ambedkar and ignoring the SC/ST communities. They are clearly stung and stunned by the facts he presented, which is why they are now indulging in theatrics! Sadly, for them, people know the truth.”
In Delhi, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal with his supporters, carrying banners, posters against Amit Shah, went to BJP headquarters to stage protest, while in Mumbai, Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya Thackeray went to Deeksha Bhoomi to pay respects to Dr. Ambedkar.
From Kolkata, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee tweeted on X: “The mask has fallen!…..Amit Shah chose to tarnish this occasion with derogatory remarks against Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, that too, in the temple of democracy. This is a display of BJP’s casteist and anti-Dalit mindset. If this is how they behave after being reduced to 240 seats, imagine the damage they would have inflicted if their dream of 400 seats had been realised. They would have rewritten history to entirely erase Dr. Ambedkar’s contributions. Amit Shah’s remarks are an insult to the millions who look up to Babasaheb for guidance and inspiration…”
Watching Amit Shah’s Rajya Sabha speech in full, it is amply clear how a fake narrative can be set by posting an edited video. Congress party tried to do this by posting this 11-second video to project that Amit Shah insulted Ambedkar. If one watches his full speech, it will be clear how he repeatedly tried to prove how Congress insulted Amedkar over the years. It is not a secret that Ambedkar had policy differences with Pandit Nehru and it has been recorded in history.
The question today is not about facts, but about perception that can be created through fake narrative. Amit Shah had to call a press conference to explain his views. Amit Shah understands the power of social media, where a half-truth can be made viral within minutes. Social media has the power to project a rope as a snake, and vice-versa. BJP could have ignored this, but in Hindi, there is a proverb “Doodh Ka Jalaa Chaach Ko Phoonk Phoonk Kar Peeta Hai” (Once bitten, twice shy).
In this year’s Lok Sabha elections, Congress created a big narrative about reservations, Constitution and Dr. Ambedkar. Congress leaders tried to strike fear in the minds of voters by saying that BJP wanted to win more than 400 Lok Sabha seats, because it wants to end caste reservation policy propounded by Ambedkar in the Constitution. BJP delayed in countering it and had to face electoral losses. This time, BJP is alert and it did not waste time. Amit Shah played from the front foot and exposed the fake narrative. To counter the 11-second video, he placed nearly a hundred facts about “sins” of Congress. Now, it may be difficult for Congress to reply to these allegations.
Had Amit Shah remained silent, it could have caused damage. The reverse will now happen, because BJP is on the offensive. BJP is going to spread facts about differences between Ambedkar and Nehru and “insults” meted out to Ambedkar by the Congress party.
Amit Shah is a clever player in politics. The issue about Constitution which could have died down after the Parliament session, will now take a long, winding course in Indian politics. This incident also proves, while social media can create a fake narrative based on short videos, the mainstream media can be trusted to project the truth by giving the full picture.
Who fears Yogi’s shadow on Himachal? And why?
A day after several Congress leaders, including T.S. Singhdeo, Tariq Anwar and Imran Pratapgarhi strongly objected to a Himachal Pradesh minister’s diktat mandating all street vendors and food establishment owners to follow the ‘Yogi model’ in displaying their names prominently, the state government on Thursday evening clarified that no such order has been issued and the matter is still being studied by a House Committee of the Assembly. The controversy arose after Himachal Pradesh urban development minister Vikramaditya Singh on Wednesday told a meeting of municipal corporation and urban development ministry officials that all food establishment owners will have to prominently display their names. Clearly, the Congress government in HP was taking a cue from the ‘Yogi model’ being implemented in UP. Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi spoke to Rahul Gandhi and demanded withdrawal of the order. Another Congress MP Tariq Anwar said he would write to the partry president demanding his intervention. Former Deputy CM of Chhattisgarh T S Singhdeo said, it seems such steps are being taken “to isolate a particular section of society and Congress would not support this.”
Vikramditya Singh’s mother and Himachal state Congress chief Pratibha Singh supported the move, but after both mother and son were summoned to Delhi by party high command, Vikramaditya Singh backed out saying that no such order has been issued and the matter is before a House Committee. He said, anybody from any part of India was free to come to Himachal Pradesh and do business. The moot question is, why did the Congress forced its minister in HP to drop the idea? Was it because this idea was based on ‘Yogi model’? Was it because that a similar step was taken by the BJP government in UP? At least, Congress should not object, because it had been saying since 2014 that Modi government was only implementing Congress schemes, with different names. Congress even claimed that the Swacch Abhiyan (cleanliness movement), Jan Dhan scheme and Make In India scheme were initiated by the party.
In UP, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claims copyright on each of the welfare schemes implemented by Yogi government. Then why this political storm over Shimla? The real reason is: fear of losing Muslim votes. The first objections were raised by Muslim leaders in Congress like Imran Pratapgarhi and Tariq Anwar, who portray themselves as champions of Muslim voters. They feel that by following the ‘Yogi model’, Congress may lose Muslim voters. This is the reason why the Himachal minister was forced to change his stand. The same Himachal minister had earlier described the constructions at the controversial Sanjauli mosque in Shimla as illegal. The minister stood in the state assembly, and openly warned that this illegal mosque could pose a danger to peace in Shimla, but the next day, he had to change his stand. The U-turn taken by minister Vikramaditya Singh and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s government on Thursday makes it quite clear that the order to display names of owners of food eateries would no more be implemented.