Bilaspur (HP), April 20 (PTI) Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday lashed out at the Congress and said the party has always “insulted” Dr BR Ambedkar and the Constitution drafted by him.

While addressing the people during the Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Samman Abhiyan organised by the BJP in the Jhandutta Assembly constituency in Bilaspur, he alleged that the Congress has a long history of undermining Ambedkar’s legacy.

“Since Independence, the Congress has insulted both Baba Saheb and the Constitution. Even after his death, his mortal remains were not allowed to be cremated in Delhi. Congress never acknowledged Baba Saheb’s intellect during his lifetime, nor after,” he said.

He further alleged that former prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru conspired to keep him out of Parliament. “In one instance, 75,000 votes were declared invalid to ensure his defeat -” marking the country’s first incident of booth capturing, orchestrated by the government,” Thakur claimed.

According to Thakur, Ambedkar was later excluded from the Cabinet, and Nehru allegedly communicated to British parliamentarian Edwina Mountbatten that Ambedkar’s resignation would have no consequence.

“After his death, Congress made no effort to honour him with a memorial or the Bharat Ratna. It was only in 1990, under a government supported by BJP allies, that he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna,” he said.

Thakur also accused the Congress of tampering the Constitution. He said that changes were made in the Preamble during the Emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the implementation of Article 35(A) and Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. He claimed these laws led to the denial of rights and reservations to the Dalits in the region, forcing the Valmiki community members into “degrading jobs” for decades.

“The Congress treated the Constitution like a personal document, with the Emergency-era amendments effectively creating the ‘Constitution of Indira’.

“Slogans like ‘India is Indira and Indira is India’ were a betrayal of democratic values,” he said. PTI COR MNK MNK