BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah issued a sharp rebuttal to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday for his remarks about Dr. BR Ambedkar in the Parliament. Siddaramaiah, in an open letter to Shah, emphasized, “For us, Ambedkar is not a ‘fashion’ but an eternal inspiration. His legacy will endure as long as we breathe and as long as the Sun and Moon shine on this Earth. The more efforts are made to diminish his memory, the stronger his guidance will be for our future.”

The Chief Minister expressed that Shah’s statement in the Parliament reflected the true mindset of his party. “Your lack of respect for the architect of the Indian Constitution has now been exposed to the entire country. Standing in the very Parliament that functions under his Constitution and calling his memory a ‘habit’ is a testament to your arrogance,” Siddaramaiah remarked.

He further asked Shah not to mislead the nation by claiming his words were distorted. “Had Dr. Ambedkar not been born, I might have been herding cattle in my village instead of serving as the Chief Minister today. Our senior leader, Mallikarjun Kharge Ji, might have been working in a factory in Kalaburagi rather than leading the AICC. Every step of our progress and dignity is owed to Babasaheb and the Constitution he gave us,” Siddaramaiah stated.

Highlighting Dr. Ambedkar’s transformative vision, Siddaramaiah noted, “Even the Prime Minister might acknowledge this, and so should you. Amit Shah’s remarks in Parliament are merely an extension of the RSS ideology,” he concluded.