Congress cites Shourie book to slam BJP plan to celebrate Ambedkar legacy

 New Delhi: Congress on Friday referred to former BJP MP Arun Shourie's book critical of BR Ambedkar in a bid to throw BJP on to the backfoot on what it claimed was its plan to appropriate the legacy of the Dalit icon.

"We all know their (BJP's) views about Dalits. We all know that when a former minister (Shourie), a very active member of BJP, wrote that book, how directly derogatory... (of) Baba Saheb it was, and what the BJP did about that," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters here.

"I do not think that the BJP's short-term policy of hijacking national icons is going to succeed because, fortunately, institutional and public memory is not that short," he added.

Singhvi said that everybody knows the philosophy and the thinking of Ambedkar, regarded to be the architect of the Indian Constitution.

"Although Ambedkar had serious differences, he was part of the Congress 'dhara'... BJP and RSS are nothing but johnnies- come-lately who are trying to appropriate a national icon for cheap political purposes," he said.

'Worshipping False Gods', the book by Shourie on Ambedkar, which was published a few years back, had seen demands for its ban from certain sections.

BJP has planned special programmes this month to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar while Congress, too, has lined up year-long celebrations to pay tribute to the Dalit leader.