No govt in past 'insulted' Ambedkar the way Amit Shah did: Priyanka Gandhi
Belagavi (Karnataka), Jan 21 (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said no government in the past had insulted the Constitution and its architect B R Ambedkar inside Parliament the way Union Home Minister Amit Shah had.
She alleged that the BJP wanted to "weaken" the Constitution and its institutions.
"Many governments have come and gone, including non-Congress governments, but no government had a minister who stood in Parliament and insulted Ambedkar," Priyanka Gandhi said at the 'Gandhi Bharat' event organised in Belagavi.
The Congress organised the event to commemorate the centenary of the lone Congress session Mahatma Gandhi had chaired as the party’s president in 1924.
Themed as 'Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan', the event targetted Union Home Minister Amit Shah for "insulting" the Indian Constitution and its architect B R Ambedkar in the Rajya Sabha recently.
Vadra said people never imagined that Ambedkar would be "insulted" inside Parliament. By doing so, Shah had "insulted" the country and the freedom fighters who sacrificed everything for it, she alleged.
According to her, Shah dared to "insult" Ambedkar and the Constitution because, while the country fought for independence, another ideological stream emerged that was "anti-constitution".
Vadra also alleged that RSS members had burned Ambedkar’s effigy and criticised him.
She said the BJP, being the offspring of the RSS, felt emboldened to "insult" Ambedkar and his Constitution.
"However, in 2024, the people taught the BJP a lesson, which was good because it scared Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After that, when he went to Parliament, he bowed before the Constitution. You made him do this," she said.
Noting that the BJP's priorities are not the country, the Constitution, democracy, or its people, she said Modi and Shah are "anti-Constitution" because their ideologies go against it and the diversity of the country.
"They are against the Constitution because their founder and ideology mocked the Constitution and the national flag, calling them foreign and inauspicious," Vadra said.
She also alleged that when the BJP came to power at the Centre, it constituted a Constitution Review Committee.
"The BJP is against the Constitution, reservation, and social justice. They want to weaken the judiciary and the RTI Act. They amended the SEBI Act to enable more corruption. They weakened the Lokpal Bill and the Election Commission of India," Vadra alleged.
She further stated that in BJP-ruled states, atrocities against women are high, as the party protects criminals rather than victims.
The Wayanad MP also said the BJP amended labour laws, stripping the working class of their rights.
She added that the BJP brought laws that would have broken the farmers' backbone.
"The farmers demonstrated, and 700 farmers died during the agitation. Then they (the BJP) backtracked just before the elections. All their policies are anti-constitution and will impact your day-to-day life," she told the crowd.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
