A Bar Council of Gujarat (BCG) member from Ahmedabad, Paresh Vaghela, has declared that he will not attend a public event on December 30 in protest of Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Dr. B R Ambedkar in the Rajya Sabha earlier this week. Shah has received an invitation to attend the BCG event as the Chief Guest.
If Shah would not apologize for his claimed insults to Ambedkar, Vaghela threatened to boycott the show.
On December 30, the BCG held an oath-taking ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan of Science City in Ahmedabad for the recently enrolled advocates on the state roster of the BCG. The oath will be taken by 6,000 newly enrolled advocates in total.
While speaking to The Indian Express, Vaghela said, ““If you (Shah) insult a person under whose leadership the Constitution was framed and do not apologise for three days, then why should I remain present in a programme having your presence (as chief guest)?”.
Vaghela was accused by BCG chairman J J Patel of trying to “do politics in a non-political event” of a statutory body.
Patel said, “He (Vaghela) is a pure Congressman: an office bearer of the Congress legal cell. Even his wife fought the election of the (municipal) corporation and lost. On the political side, he can do whatever protest he wants, but he should not do it from the platform of BCG. BCG is the parent body of all the lawyers of Gujarat and Amitbhai (Shah) is coming on their request. One should not bring one’s political agenda to this programme. This is a programme of Gujarat’s lawyers. BCG is a non-political statutory body and Amitbhai is the guest of all the lawyers of Gujarat”.
But in response, Vaghela declared, “I have announced to boycott the event as a Dalit and an Ambedkarite. It has nothing to do with Congress. I have announced it because my sentiments are hurt (by Shah’s comments)”.
Patel further claimed that Vaghela had provided his approval at the time and that he attended every board meeting of BCG where the decision to run the program under Shah’s direction was made.
He went on to say that the BCG will give the program its best effort, with a “record number” of attorneys participating. The full Bar Council of India team, chairmen and vice-chairmen of each state bar council, and representatives from all bar associations are also anticipated to attend.
It is anticipated that Shah will be joined by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, State Law Minister Rushikesh Patel, Bar Council of India Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, and Gujarat Advocate General Kamal Trivedi.
Shah had responded on Tuesday to the two-day Rajya Sabha debate on the “Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India” by saying: “There is a fad these days — Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. You would have been granted seven births to heaven if you had repeatedly sung the name of God. “We are happy that Ambedkar’s name is being taken,” he continued, before enumerating the supposed “injustices” committed by the Congress against Ambedkar.
At a press conference, Shah accused the Congress of circulating false material against him, drawing criticism from the opposition for what they described as Ambedkar’s attack.
“My statement was presented in a distorted manner. Earlier, they made Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s edited statements public. When the elections were on, my statement was edited using AI. And today, they are presenting my statement in a distorted manner. I also request media to put my full statement before the public,” Shah said, adding that he belongs to a party which “can never insult Ambedkarji”.
Read Also: India Registers “Strong Protest” With Dhaka Over Remarks By Bangladesh Leader
