Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in his Republic Day address at Dibrugarh today, once again raised the issue of BR Ambedkar, claiming India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, kept him out of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Constitution. Mr Sarma claimed this while emphasizing on the challenges Dr Ambedkar faced while drafting the Constitution.
“Babasaheb Ambedkar is the founder of our Constitution. His inclusion in the constituency assembly had many challenges. His name was not there in the first list of members of Constituent assembly who were to draft the constitution,” the Chief Minister said.
A Dalit leader from East Bengal, Jogendranath Mondal, proposed Dr Ambedkar’s name in his place and only after that he had the opportunity to be part of the historic work, he said.
“Today I remember a statement of Pandit Nehru about the inclusion of Ambedkar. Nehru had claimed that Ambedkar was a trouble-maker and wanted to keep him outside the constituent assembly,” he said.
The Chief Minister further claimed that Ambedkar was included because Mahatma Gandhi recognised the merit in him and trusted his ability and took a stand against the position Nehru had taken.
“This decision of Gandhi was proved to be fruitful by the constituent assembly led by Ambedkar who gave us a constitution based on equality and brotherhood,” he added.
The Chief Minister’s statement has drawn sharp reactions from the Congress.
Leader of Opposition in Assam assembly Debabrata Saikia condemned the remarks and alleged it was an attempt to defame Babasaheb Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru by distorting the truth.
“Initially Ambedkar was elected to constituency assembly from Bengal. But after partition his constituency went to Pakistan and he has to vacate his seat. It was Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel who went to Gandhi-ji to discuss this. After this Ambedkar was offered a seat in the constituent assembly by vacating a seat from Pune,” Mr Saikia told reporters.