Arvind Kejriwal Questions BJP Allies Nitish Kumar, Chandrababu Naidu Amid Ambedkar Row

A full-blown political slugfest has erupted over Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on BR Ambedkar with Aam Admi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal questioning the stand of the BJP allies, TDP and JD(U).

Arvind Kejriwal sought to know the views of the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu over the remarks of Amit Shah.

In a post on X in Hindi, Mr Kejriwal said, " The people of the country want to ask Honorable Nitish Ji and Chandrababu Naidu Ji - "Do you support the insult of Baba Saheb done by Amit Shah Ji?"

This came after Amit Shah lashed out at the Congress party and said that it had become a 'fashion' for the party to take Mr Ambedkar's name.

"If they had taken the name of God so many times instead of Ambedkar then they would have got heaven for seven lives," Mr Shah said.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended Amit Shah's remarks on Babasaheb Ambedkar and said that Mr Shah exposed the Congress' dark history of insulting Ambedkar after which they were clearly stung and stunned by the facts he presented.

In a series of posts on X, PM Modi said that Congress sat in power for years but did nothing to empower the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.

"In Parliament, Amit Shah Ji exposed the Congress' dark history of insulting Dr Ambedkar and ignoring the SC/ST Communities. They are clearly stung and stunned by the facts he presented, which is why they are now indulging in theatrics! Sadly, for them, people know the truth! Congress can try as they want but they can't deny that the worst massacres against SC/ST Communities have happened under their regimes. For years, they sat in power but did nothing substantive to empower the SC and ST communities," PM Modi said.

The Prime Minister listed the "Congress' sins" towards Babasaheb Ambedkar.

"The list of the Congress' sins towards Dr Ambedkar includes- Getting him defeated in elections not once but twice. Pandit Nehru campaigning against him and making his loss a prestige issue. Denying him a Bharat Ratna. Denying his portrait, a place of pride in Parliament's Central Hall," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)