‘BR Ambedkar was ready to convert to Islam’: Karnataka Congress leader stirs controversy

Last update:November 12, 2024, 1:59 PM IST

Congress leader Sayed Azeem Peer Khadri while addressing a gathering claimed that Dr. BR Ambedkar almost converted to Islam.

File photos of Dr BR Ambedkar/Sayed Azeempeer Khadri (PTI)

Karnataka Congress leader and former MP Sayed Azeem Peer Khadri courted controversy on Tuesday after he claimed that BR Ambedkar was ready to convert to Islam and that if that had happened, state minister G Parameshwara and many Dalits today would be Muslims.

Khadri’s remarks came while he was addressing a political rally in Karnataka’s Shiggaon.

“Babasaheb Ambedkar, in those days, was ready to accept and join Islam, but eventually he became a Buddhist,” the Congress leader claimed.

“(Karnataka Congress leader) Nagaraj Yadav Lord may know about it. If Babasaheb Ambedkar had joined Islam, then Ramappa (Timmapur) would have been Rahim, Dr. G Parameshwara would have been “Peer Saheb”Hanumantha Gowda would be Hassan and Manjunath Timmapur would be ‘Mehboob’, he added, at a convention of the Madiga community ahead of the November 13 Shiggaon by-election.

Soon after Khadri’s remark went viral, an embarrassed Congress tried to distance itself from the statement.

MLC Nagraj Yadav, who was on stage when the comment was made, spoke to News18 and called it an “unwarranted comment”.

“This is an unwarranted comment by Khadri and I do not support it at all. Dr Ambedkar is one of the greatest leaders India has ever seen. He wanted everyone to accept all religions. He never liked things like what Khadri said. Khadri should refrain from such statements,” he said.

Later attacking the Congress leader, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Khadri’s statement reflected his and his party’s ignorance.

“There were attempts by the Nizam of Hyderabad to induce Ambedkar to join Islam and they tried to bribe him by offering him millions of rupees. Ambedkar made it clear that Islam has no equality and is intolerant,” BJP leader CT Ravi said.

Sayed Azeem Peer Khadri revolted against the party after being denied a ticket and filed his nomination as an independent in the Shiggaon Assembly constituency by-election.

Earlier on November 8, the Congress had alleged that the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) “want to get rid” of BR Ambedkar’s Constitution and replace it with one based on manusmriti ideology.

The party also said that was why Prime Minister Narendra Modi “called the caste census an attempt to divide the nation”.

Congress general secretary in-charge of communication Jairam Ramesh claimed that the BJP and its ideological mentor, the RSS, have many disagreements with the Constitution, with reservations for Dalits, Adivasis and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) being among the main ones.

Ramesh’s attack came after Modi accused the Congress of playing a dangerous game of dividing castes and communities.

If the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes remain united, Congress politics will be over, the Prime Minister said in Dhule, addressing his first rally in Maharashtra ahead of the November 20 assembly polls in the state.