The Congress on Thursday submitted a breach of privilege notice in the Rajya Sabha against Union Home Minister Amit Shah for allegedly insulting BR Ambedkar during his recent speech on the Constitution in the Upper House.

Over the past two days, the Opposition party has been demanding Shah’s resignation, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party leader had insulted Ambedkar. Party leaders also shared on social media video clips of the comment made by Shah in his speech on Tuesday.

“It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar,” the home minister was heard saying in the clip. “If they had taken God’s name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven.”

Shah, however, alleged that the Congress had presented a distorted version of his speech in the Rajya Sabha.

In a notice to the Rajya Sabha chairperson on Thursday, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge demanded that breach of privilege proceedings be initiated against Shah for “derogatory” remarks against Ambedkar.

Kharge said that Shah’s “wordings as well as the tone and tenor” were “satirical” and in “bad taste”.

The notice said: “To use the name of Dr BR Ambedkar, the chief architect of Constitution of India, is a clear cut insult to Dr Ambedkar. These remarks which have been made on the floor of the House are outright derogatory in nature and affront to Dr Ambedkar.”

Kharge said that the Union home minister’s conduct amounted to breach of privilege and contempt of the House.

Parliamentary privileges are rights conferred to MPs for conducting the business of Parliament. MPs can file breach of privilege motions seeking action if these rights are violated. The chairperson of the House decides on whether to admit the motion and whether to refer it to the Privileges Committee.

On Thursday, Supriya Shrinate, the head of the Congress’ social media department, said that a few party leaders, including Jairam Ramesh and herself, had received a notice a day earlier from the social media platform X for allegedly violating laws by sharing the video clips of Shah.

“I fail to understand which laws were violated,” Shrinate said. “X goes on to say that given the freedom of speech and expression, they will not take it down, but in the interest of transparency, they have informed us.”

Shrinate said that the notice clearly indicated that the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had written to the social media platform to take down the videos of Shah.

Shrinate also criticised the BJP for editing an image of several Opposition INDIA bloc MPs carrying images of Ambedkar while protesting against Shah’s remarks on Wednesday.

The edited image shared on social media by the BJP showed the Opposition MPs holding images of Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist George Soros. The backdrop had the words “We Love Soros”.

“Hello, Congress and INDI alliance,” the BJP wrote in a post along with the edited image. “We fixed the image for you. You’re welcome.”

The BJP has repeatedly accused the Congress of conspiring with Soros to destabilise the Union government.

“How dare the BJP replace Dr Ambedkar’s picture?” Shrinate said on Thursday. “This is the same ease with which they think they can replace India’s Constitution.”

AAP’s Kejriwal urges BJP ally to ‘reflect’

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday wrote to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, urging him to “reflect” on Shah’s remarks.

While the Aam Aadmi Party is a part of the INDIA bloc, Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party is part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance.

Kejriwal, in his letter to Naidu, said that Shah’s remarks about Ambedkar were disrespectful. “This has hurt the sentiments of millions of people across the country,” Kejriwal said. “People are beginning to feel that those who revere Babasaheb can no longer support the BJP.”

He added: “After this statement by the BJP, people expect you to deeply reflect on this issue as well.”