Congress leaders get notices from X over sharing Amit Shah’s Ambedkar remark clips
text_fields
The Congress party has claimed that several of its leaders, including Jairam Ramesh and Supriya Shrinate, received notices from the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) for allegedly violating laws by sharing video clips of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent speech in the Rajya Sabha.
The controversy stems from Shah's comments during a discussion on the Constitution, where he remarked, "It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. If they had taken God’s name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven." These remarks were shared by Congress leaders, who alleged that the Union minister had insulted BR Ambedkar, the architect of India’s Constitution.
In response, Shah accused the Congress of distorting his speech. The Congress, however, maintained that the clips were neither edited nor altered, emphasizing that the original speech is publicly available on the Rajya Sabha’s website.
Supriya Shrinate, the Congress' social media chief, criticized the notices from X, stating that they did not specify which laws were violated. She alleged that the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had pressured X to remove the videos. “I fail to understand which laws were violated,” Shrinate said. “X informed us that they won’t take the videos down due to freedom of speech but felt obligated to notify us. This clearly indicates the government’s involvement.”
Shrinate called on Shah to apologize and resign, accusing him of attempting to silence criticism. “If you have nothing to hide, why ask for the videos to be removed?” she said.
Shah, on the other hand, alleged that the Congress was running a “malicious campaign” to twist his remarks, aiming to divert attention from the discussion that, according to him, exposed the party as “anti-Ambedkar” and “anti-reservation.”
On Thursday, MPs from the Opposition INDIA bloc staged a protest in Parliament, demanding Shah's apology for what they termed disrespectful remarks against Ambedkar.