In the latest episode of “As the Congress Spins,” the party has concocted a new warp and weft of lies claiming that Union Home Minister Amit Shah purportedly ‘insulted’ Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar in his speech in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday (17th December).
While the Congress party has a record of peddling falsehoods about its opponents, its latest foray into the murky waters of fake news is less about facts or Ambedkar’s respect but more about Congress’s desperate attempt to score cheap political points against the BJP, highlighting their penchant for creating fiction when reality doesn’t serve their political agenda. However, this sinister attempt by Congress leader Supriya Shrinate and others to portray Amit Shah and the BJP as ‘anti-Ambedkar’, ‘anti-Constitution’ or ‘anti-Dalit’ falls flat when the full context of what Amit Shah said is presented.
Taking to X on Tuesday, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate shared a 12-second clip from Minister Shah’s address in the Rajya Sabha at the conclusion of a two-day discussion in Rajya Sabha on 75 years of the Constitution.
Shrinate alleged that Shah ‘insulted’ Dr Ambedkar and said, “Now it has become fashionable to chant the name of Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. If you had taken God’s name this much, you would have attained heaven: Amit Shah. This insult to Baba Saheb can only be done by a person who hates his constitution And whose forefathers had burnt the effigies of Babasaheb, the messiah of the oppressed and the deprived After all why do these Sanghis have so much trouble and hatred even with the name of Babasaheb?

Sharing the same video clip, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said, “Now it has become a fashion- Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar…If you take the name of God this much, you would attain heaven for seven lives.” Amit Shah has said something very disgusting. This shows that the BJP and RSS leaders have a lot of hatred for Baba Saheb Ambedkar. The hatred is such that they are even irritated by his name. These are the same people whose ancestors used to burn the effigies of Baba Saheb, who themselves used to talk about changing the constitution given by Baba Saheb. When the public taught them a lesson, now they have become irritated with those who take the name of Baba Saheb. Shameful! Amit Shah should apologize to the country for this.”

Congress leader KC Venugopal went a step ahead and declared Dr Ambedkar as equivalent to God and insulted the Manusmriti while attacking Amit Shah. “HM @AmitShah, in case you didn’t know – Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar is equivalent to God and the Constitution he drafted is a Holy Book for crores of people across the world. How dare you speak about Dr. Ambedkar with such disdain? The BJP’s disgust towards Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was always well known, and the Home Minister’s pathetic statements in the Rajya Sabha today further confirm how much they hate and detest Dr. Ambedkar. The worshippers of Manusmriti will always have scorn towards Dr Ambedkar, who rejected the horrible ideas espoused by the casteist RSS and their Manusmriti. Those who spoke of changing the Constitution if they won 400+ seats, are now openly mocking our country’s reverence for Dr. Ambedkar. Those who pretended to bow before him could not hide their true feelings for too long, and this dangerous statement from the BJP top brass shows they have lost the right to speak about Dr. Ambedkar ever again,” Venugopal said,

Alongside the Congress leaders, its media allies also jumped on the bandwagon and shared the said video clip without giving the complete context of the Minister’s remarks.

Other Ranvijay Singh, another ‘journalist’ Wasim Akram Tyagi who has earlier been booked for peddling fake news to further the narrative of “Muslim victimhood” shared the clip taken from Amit Shah’s speech and said, “This language of the Home Minister shows how much trouble he has with the Constitution and the Constitution maker. If the slogan of 400 plus had been successful then you would have seen what would have happened. Now in a hurry, the soul of the Constitution is being attacked by bringing up useless issues.”

Meanwhile, a derogatory campaign (#तड़ीपार_माफ़ी_मांग) has been launched against the Union Home Minister based on the viral clip. Run by the anti-BJP elements, this campaign calls on Minister Shah to ‘apologise’ for his alleged ‘insulting’ remarks against Dr Ambedkar.
The Congress party has decided not to confine its false narrative against Amit Shah to social media campaigns and trolling but to rake it up in the Parliament as the party has called a meeting inside Parliament to discuss Amit Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar.
Did Amit Shah insult Ambedkar?
Contrary to the falsehood peddled by the Congress ecosystem, Home Minister Amit Shah did not insult Dr Ambedkar, rather, he launched a scathing attack on the Congress party and accused it of using the constitution as its “private property”.
During the discussion on “Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India”, Minister Shah said, “Abhi ek fashion ho gaya hai – Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. Itna naam agar bhagwan ka lete to saat janmon tak swarg mil jata (It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’. If they had taken God’s name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven).
Fake news by @SupriyaShrinate 🤡
— Vijay Patel🇮🇳 (@vijaygajera) December 17, 2024
It seems a congress WhatsApp group is spreading this edited video purposefully to create unrest in the country by instigating Dalits.
Here is the original video https://t.co/iXDLBkUHq3 pic.twitter.com/74zZDyppTh
Minister Shah said that while the BJP is pleased that the Congress has started taking Dr Ambedkar’s name, the party should also express its true feelings about him. He then mentioned how Ambedkar had to resign from the first Cabinet due to his disagreement with the then-Congress-led government’s policies, which included Article 370.
मोदी सरकार के लिए संविधान केवल एक दस्तावेज नहीं, बल्कि वंचितों के कल्याण और राष्ट्रनिर्माण की मूल प्रेरणा है। राज्यसभा में संविधान निर्माण के 75 वर्ष पूरे होने पर आयोजित चर्चा से लाइव…
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) December 17, 2024
https://t.co/B6eK3wj8EH
Furthermore, Shah alleged that the Congress made numerous amendments to the Constitution for its own interest saying that even before the country’s first elections, then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru implemented the first constitutional amendment to “limit freedom of expression.” “You treat the party (Congress) like your family’s property, and now you treat the Constitution the same way,” Shah said.
He went on to criticise the Congress party and the opposition for finding “faults” in the EVMs after facing defeats in elections. The Minister also slammed Congress for its Muslim appeasement politics alleging that it wanted to break the 50% limit on quota to provide reservations to the Muslim community.
It is thus, evident, that contrary to the false claims peddled by Congress, Amit Shah did not insult Dr Ambedkar but only exposed Congress’s mockery of the constitution.
Congress, Supriya Shrinate and the ignominious record of peddling fake news
This is not the first time that Congress leaders like Supriya Shrinate has peddled falsehoods about her party’s opponents. In fact, she has been caught peddling fake and misleading claims quite often. In November last year, Shrinate and other Congress leaders claimed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was met with an indifferent attitude by voters during his address at a rally and that when a senior BJP leader asked voters to complete the sloganeering and said ‘Congress party’, he was astounded to hear “Congress Party Zindabad’ from the large gathering. However, it turned out the video was edited and in reality, the people were raising “Congress party Murdabad” slogans but Amit Shah stopped them from doing so.
In November 2023, NDTV fact-checked Congress’s chairperson of Social Media and Digital Platforms, Supriya Shrinate and said they did not conduct any poll for Telangana elections. In the post, Shrinate said, “NDTV Poll of Polls confirms what we see on the ground in Telangana. Congress is all set to record a historic win!” She then threw some random numbers titled “poll of polls”.
In July last year, Shrinate claimed that the youth Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked to during his Delhi metro ride were BJP workers and not common citizens. However, later she deleted the tweet knowing that she had messed and wrongly accused the BJP and PM Modi of performing some ‘stunt’. However, it was reported that the students PM Modi interacted with were in no way associated with the BJP compelling Shrinate to delete her post, although she did not care to apologise for spreading fake news.
In June 2023, Supriya Shrinate tried to spread fake news amid PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States. In an attempt to criticize PM Modi, Shrinate who has also worked as a journalist, misquoted John Kirby, White House National Security Spokesperson. She indicatively claimed that Kirby had criticized PM Modi for not taking any press conferences in the last 9 years. However, OpIndia reported that John Kirby has never said the words quoted by Shrinate. Shrinate picked the quoted statement from a Reuters report and falsely claimed that Kirby had stated those.
Not only Supriya Shrinate but several other senior leaders of the Congress party have also been involved in peddling fake news against PM Modi, HM Shah and the BJP government. Back in September 2023, Several Congress leaders, including Pawan Khera and Sashi Tharoor, claimed that hoardings have been put up ahead of the G20 summit which shows that PM Modi is ranked ahead in the popularity of several other global leaders. However, it was reported that the image of the hoarding was put up in April 2023 and not ahead of the G20 summit.
In August 2023, the official X handle of the Congress party posted some numbers claiming that the viewership of Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Lok Sabha during the non-confidence motion was much more than the speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, OpIndia analysis revealed that the numbers were not only fake but also senseless as the videos of speeches uploaded on the respective YouTube channels of both politicians, and the numbers didn’t match the numbers mentioned by Congress.
In April this year, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Telangana Congress shared an edited video and falsely claimed that BJP leader Amit Shah has promised to end reservations for the SC, ST and OBCs. In reality, the Union Home Minister had vowed to end unconstitutional reservation for the Muslim community and give it to the SC, ST and OBCs. In May, the official X account of Jharkhand Congress was withheld after a ‘deepfake morphed video’ of Union Home Minister Amit Shah was posted on the social media handle.
Conclusion
The video clip taken from Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s speech in the Rajya Sabha is being deliberately circulated by the Congress party and its extended ecosystem without the correct context in an apparent attempt to project the senior BJP leader and the Modi government as the one hating Dr Ambedkar and Dalits. It was seen how Congress’s fear-mongering during the Lok Sabha elections that somehow the BJP would change the constitution if voted to power had been quite effective, it seemingly wants to continue projecting the BJP as ‘anti-Ambedkar’, ‘anti-constitution’ and even thus ‘anti-Dalit’ while polishing its own image as that of a ‘well-wisher’ and ‘protector’ of Dalits and the legacy of Dr Ambedkar.