3 days Ago
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday launched a sharp counterattack against the Congress, sharing a controversial cartoon from an old NCERT textbook to highlight what she described as the grand old party's "visceral hatred" for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. She termed the cartoon, which depicted Jawaharlal Nehru "whipping" Ambedkar, "abominable".
"During UPA II, uptil 2012, a cartoon in NCERT textbooks for teaching children had this abominable cartoon. This reflects the visceral hatred that @INCIndia has for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Now, they spread misinformation about HM @AmitShah. His speech in the RS has rattled the Congress party and hence these protests," she said. The finance minister also shared a short clip, where a BJP MP pointed this out in Parliament.
Then HRD Minister Kapil Sibal admitted the error and asked the department to remove the objectionable cartoon. "Here's a clip from the parliament proceedings in 2012. @INCIndia should apologise to the people of our country for repeatedly assaulting the image of Dr Ambedkar," she said.
Sitharaman blasted the Congress, saying they defeated Ambedkar in elections, denied him Bharat Ratna, didn't build a worthy memorial to honour him, and "now run a false campaign". Earlier, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also slammed the Congress, alleging that it had always hated Ambedkar. Sharing that cartoon, he claimed that the "crocodile tears" of the Congress over Ambedkar are just pretence.
Pradhan said that during the rule of the Congress-led UPA-2 government, a shameful cartoon was included in the NCERT textbook for Class 11 in 2012 in which Pandit Nehru was shown "whipping" Babasaheb Ambedkar. "After strong opposition from BJP, then Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal apologised and announced to withdraw it. Obviously, such a shameful act cannot happen unknowingly, this cartoon filled with hatred towards Babasaheb was made public only after the approval of the royal family and the whole country knows who had control of the remote-run government at that time," Pradhan said.
A massive political row erupted on Wednesday as the Congress launched an all-out attack on Amit Shah for his remarks on Ambedkar. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders defended Shah, and launched a counter-offensive by sharing how Congress tried to sideline Ambedkar. On Wednesday, Amit Shah accused the Congress of twisting facts and distorting his comments on Ambedkar.
He said Congress launched the malicious campaign after the discussion on the Constitution "established" the opposition party as being "anti-Ambedkar and anti-reservation". He said the Congress was left with no answer following the discussion in Parliament. The Congress, he added, has adopted the tactic of misrepresenting and distorting statements, including those of Prime Minister Modi, and then creating an uproar to mislead people.
He asserted that his address in the Rajya Sabha was clear and without any confusion, and is on the record of the House..
