A Congress leader and former MLA in Karnataka Sayed Azam Peer Khadri stoked controversy by claiming Dr BR Ambedkar, the architect of Constitution of India, was ready to convert to Islam. He further added that had Dr Ambedkar converted to Islam, tens of thousands of Dalits in the country would have converted to Islam as well. Khadri made the controversial comments at a Congress rally in Karnataka's Shiggaon. And assembly by-election is due in Shiggaon.
“Babasaheb Ambedkar, in those days, was all set to accept and join Islam, but he then eventually became a Buddhist," the Congress leader claimed as quoted by News 18.
“(Karnataka Congress leader) Nagaraj Yadav Sir may know about this. Had Babasaheb Ambedkar joined Islam, then Ramappa (Timmapur) would have been Rahim, Dr G Parameshwara would have been ‘Peer Saheb’, Hanumantha Gowda would have been Hassan and Manjunath Timmapur would be ‘Mehboob’," he was quoted as saying.
The Congress leaders moved quickly to distance themselves from Khadri's comments about Ambedkar.
Congress MLC Nagraj Yadav was on stage when Khadri made the comment. He told News 18 that it was an "unwarranted comment".
“This is an unwarranted comment by Khadri, and I don’t second it at all. Dr Ambedkar is one of the greatest leaders India has ever seen. He wanted everyone to accept all religions. He was never into stuff like what Khadri said. Khadri should restrain such statements," he was quoted as saying.
BJP slams Congress
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to slam Congress and say that Khadri's comments were made due to ignorance of he himself and the Congress party.
“There were attempts by Hyderabad Nizam to get Ambedkar to join Islam and they attempted to bribe him by offering him crores of rupees. Ambedkar clearly said Islam doesn’t have equality and it has intolerance," said CT Ravi, a BJP leader.
Khadri, a former MLA from Shiggaon, planned to contest bye-election as an independent candidate after he was denied Congress ticket.
