Who took away PM’s right to free speech, asks Narendra Modi sarcastically

Lakhimpur Kheri: On the 123rd birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has accused the Congress of insulting India’s first Law Minister and ignoring his huge contribution to the country as the chief architect of its constitution.

“The Congress never gave Dr Ambedkar the Bharat Ratna,” Mr Modi said at a rally in Lakhimpur Kheri, referring to the highest civilian honour. “40 years after his death, when a BJP-backed government was formed in Delhi,  Babashaheb was honoured with the Bharat Ratna,” Mr Modi said. Babasaheb, as he was known, was posthumously conferred with the Bharat Ratna in 1990.

Mr Modi acerbically added that the freedom of speech, enshrined in the Constitution, was taken away from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by his party president, Sonia Gandhi.

“Ambedkar gave us the right to freedom of speech. But who snatched it from the Prime Minister? It is unfortunate that whatever was enshrined in the Constitution was never implemented,” Mr Modi charged, referencing the controversy crafted by a new book from the Prime Minister’s former advisor, Sanjaya Baru, who says Congress President Sonia Gandhi oversaw all major decisions of the government. (Row over book by PM’s former media advisor Sanjaya Baru)

Mr Modi said that Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the Congress campaign for the national election, is guilty of blatantly and repeatedly “insulting” Dr Ambedkar.

“The Congress party’s ‘shehzaade‘ enjoys humiliating Babasaheb Ambedkar by repeatedly saying that Congress has given this right or that right. All the rights and laws have been given to us by Ambedkar,” he said.

In his rallies, asking voters for a third term in power for his party, Mr Gandhi, 43, has been emphasising that the government, led by the Congress, has delivered landmark reforms and welfare schemes like the Right to Information, Right to Education and Right to Food.