Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday charged the Congress with misusing the provision of the Constitution when it was in power while asserting that his government has also amended the Constitution but only for the sake of the country’s unity.
“Misusing the Constitution and destroying its spirit has been a part of Congress’ DNA. For us, the Constitution, its purity, and its integrity are of the greatest importance,” Modi said during his nearly two hours marathon reply to a two-day special debate on the 75th anniversary of adoption of the Constitution of India in the Lok Sabha.
“We have also made constitutional amendments… but for the unity of the country, for the integrity of the country, for the bright future of the country and with full dedication to the spirit of the Constitution,” Modi asserted.
He said that when the NDA got a chance to form the government in 2014, democracy and the Constitution got strengthened.
“It is our big mission and resolve to liberate the poor from their difficulties. We are proud that today 25 crore people have come out of poverty,” Modi said.
Modi also placed 11 resolutions before the House which included that “the Constitution should be respected, the Constitution should not be made a weapon for political selfishness, Keeping in mind the spirit of the Constitution, those who are getting reservation should not be snatched away and every attempt at reservation on the basis of religion should be stopped, India should become an example for the world in women led development.”
Other key resolutions placed by the Prime Minister also included that the country’s politics should be freed from nepotism, there should be freedom from the mentality of slavery, there should be pride in the heritage of the country and there should be zero tolerance towards corruption, there should not be social acceptance of the corrupt.
Launching a scathing attack on the grand old party, the Prime Minister said, “One family of Congress left no stone unturned in hurling a blow to the Constitution.”
He said when India was celebrating 25 years of the Constitution, it “was torn apart” and an Emergency was imposed.
“It is 75 years of the Constitution. But 25 years also has an importance, so do 50 years and 60 years…When the country was witnessing 25 years of Constitution, at the same time the Constitution in our country was razed. Emergency was imposed, democratic systems were finished, the country was turned into a prison, citizens’ rights were looted, and press freedom was curtailed,” the Prime Minister said.
“This sin on the forehead of Congress can never be erased. Whenever democracy will be discussed across the world, Congress’ sin will never be erased because democracy was strangled,” PM Modi said.
Emergency was imposed on June 25, 1975 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Referring to the Nehru-Gandhi family, Modi alleged that it “has challenged the Constitution at all levels”.
“Highs and lows occurred, there were difficulties too, there were obstacles as well. But I bow before the people of the country once again that they strongly stood with the Constitution…I do not want to make personal criticism of anyone but it is important to place facts before the country. That is why I would like to do that,” he said.
“One family of Congress left no stone unturned in hurling a blow to the Constitution. I am mentioning that one family because in 75 years of our journey, they ruled for 55 years. So, the country has the right to know what happened. The tradition of this family’s ill-thoughts, bad policies is ongoing continuously. This family has challenged the Constitution at all levels,” he alleged.
In a veiled reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s 2013 act of tearing a document related to a Union Cabinet’s ordinance to save convicted legislators from the disqualification, PM Modi said an arrogant person tore the document and forced the Cabinet to change its decision.
“The Congress did not follow its own Constitution, and made Nehru the leader when state units had supported Sardar Patel,” the Prime Minister said.
Hitting out at the Congress over its frequent “jumla” jibes at the BJP, Modi said the “biggest jumla in India” was ‘Garibi Hatao’ and alleged that it was used by four generations of Congress leaders in elections.
The “Garibi Hatao” slogan was first used by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections.
“Congress is very fond of one word. I want to use that word today. Their favourite word, without which they cannot live, is ‘jumla’… The country knows that if there was any biggest jumla in India and it was used by four generations, that jumla was – ‘Garibi Hatao’. This was such a Jumla which helped them in their politics but did not improve the condition of the poor,” the Prime Minister said.
PM Modi said his government has made sincere efforts to bring the poor out of poverty.
He also targeted the Congress-led UPA government over amendments to the Constitution and alleged that these were not aimed at the welfare of the people.
“Congress tasted the blood of amending the Constitution, it started hunting for the Constitution from time to time. It tasted the blood. It kept bloodying the spirit of the Constitution. In almost six decades, the Constitution was amended 75 times. The poison that was sowed by the first PM of the country was nurtured by another Prime Minister – Indira Gandhi. Congress has constantly disrespected the Constitution, and reduced the importance of the Constitution. Congress is full of many examples of this,” he said.
PM Modi further attacked the Congress over Article 370 concerning Jammu and Kashmir which was scrapped by his government in August 2019.
“Everyone knows about 370 but very few know about 35-A… If there is any first son of the Constitution of India, then it is the Parliament but they (Congress) have strangled it too. They (Congress) imposed 35-A on the country without bringing it to the Parliament… This work was done on the orders of the President and the Parliament of the country was kept in the dark,” he said.