The row over the alleged insult of BR Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution, is heating up. The Congress and other Opposition parties are asking for Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation. On Wednesday, Union home minister Amit Shah hit out at the Congress.
Kamal Hassan said Ambedkar’s ideas should inspire progress rather than be misused to offend the sentiments of his followers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Opposition of spreading malicious lies, after a statement by Shah referring to Dr BR Ambedkar triggered a political storm and jammed Parliament. Now, seasoned actor turned politician Kamal Haasan has also weighed in on the controversy.
In a social media post on X on December 19th, the actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam party founder said Ambedkar’s ideas should inspire progress rather than be misused to offend the sentiments of his followers, among whom he was proud to count himself.
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This is what he posted:
“Ambedkar’s ideas are the building block on which modern India is built. While Gandhiji freed India from foreign oppression, Dr. Ambedkar liberated India from its own ancient shackles of social injustice.
Every Indian who proudly believes and fights for Babasaheb’s vision of free and just India, where all are born equal, will never tolerate the great man’s legacy to be tarnished.
As a modern and moral global power, we should commemorate 75 years of the adoption of our Constitution with a meaningful discussion, debate, and dissection of Ambedkar’s ideas in the esteemed halls of Parliament. These ideas should inspire progress rather than be misused to offend the sentiments of his followers, among whom I am proud to count myself.”
What is the brand of Dravidian politics that Kamal Haasan has propagated in the past?
In his columns and statements in the past, Haasan has said that the Dravidian identity transcends linguistic barriers and isn’t limited to Tamils. He has gone on to call his Dravidian stand as a combination of ethnicity, self-respect and love for the mother tongue, which also applies to all of India and claimed that it was what Nehru observed – unity in diversity.
What is Kamal Haasan’s stand on caste?
Well, he says he considers caste his biggest opponent. Last year, during an event in Tamil Nadu, he said as much. “My biggest rival – my political rival – is caste. I have been saying this since I was 21 years old and I still say it. My opinion has never changed. After the invention of the wheel, man’s biggest creation is God. Don’t forget that. We cannot accept the fact that what we created is now attacking us. Caste is a terrible weapon and leaders like Dr B R Ambedkar, who came three generations before me, also fought for this.”
Why are the Opposition and the BJP fighting over Ambedkar?
At the centre of a raging row in Parliament and outside is a statement by Home Minister Amit Shah. In his address to the Rajya Sabha during the debate to mark 75 years of the Constitution, the Home Minister Tuesday said taking BR Ambedkar’s name had become a fashion. “It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’. If they took God’s name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven,” he said.
