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Informist, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024

NEW DELHI – The Congress on Monday demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in both Houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, for allegedly misleading people about the late prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's letter to the states on reservation.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge accused Modi of twisting facts about the letter to mislead people. "Prime Minister Modi should apologise to the people for misleading them by twisting Nehru's letter to states," Kharge said.

The Congress president was participating in a discussion on the 'Glorious Journey of 75 years of the Constitution of India' in the Rajya Sabha. Responding to the attack by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who opened the debate and targeted Nehru for bringing in the first constitution amendment in 1951 to put limits on the freedom of speech, Kharge said the amendment was brought in to deal with communal propaganda at a most sensitive time in the country's history, when it had just been through a violent Partition, and to protect the zamindari abolition laws that were being struck down by the courts.

Another reason for bringing in the amendment, he said, was to protect reservations in education and employment for the backward classes. "It was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who suggested the Constitution amendment to Nehru," Kharge said. "This legislation was defended by B.R. Ambedkar. Was Ambedkar against the backward classes? You (Modi) are insulting Patel also by opposing Nehru." He said the prime minister lives in an imaginary world when he is not dwelling in the past.

On Saturday, taking a dig at India's first prime minister during his reply to the debate on the Constitution in the Lok Sabha, Modi said, "Nehru wrote to the chief ministers saying that if the Constitution becomes an obstacle, it should be altered. This is what Nehru suggested!"

Modi went on to say that the seed sown by Nehru was taken forward by the late prime minister Indira Gandhi, who even overturned a Supreme Court decision and imposed the Emergency when India was celebrating 25 years of the Constitution.

The Congress president, who is the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said the Constitution is under threat today and the Bharatiya Janata Party wants to change it. "In 2024, the people of India changed their (BJP's) minds," he said. "But we have to be vigilant to protect the Constitution for our coming generations. We don't know when their minds will change again."

Kharge reiterated his party's demand for a caste census to ascertain the population of backward communities. He hailed Indira Gandhi for the liberation of Bangladesh and advised the BJP government to learn from her and work to protect the minorities in the neighbouring country.

Earlier, Sitharaman initiated the debate by paying homage to 389 members of the Constituent Assembly, including 15 women, who prepared the document in less than three years. She said the Constitution had stood the test of time, and charged Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and the late Rajiv Gandhi with amending the statute for their own benefit.

The finance minister said the economic policies of the Congress governments for about 50 years did not strengthen the country. She said the Soviet model of a planned economy adopted by Nehru and carried forward by Indira Gandhi did not do any good for the country.

Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri targeted the Congress for what he called its failure to resolve the Kashmir issue. He said the Congress lacked the courage to act on Article 370, and praised Modi for revoking it. "What should have been a temporary arrangement gained a permanent nature because the Congress did not have the courage to act," Puri said.

He said the failure of the Congress to address the issue damaged India's reputation on the global stage. Puri also claimed that Ambedkar had opposed Article 370, advising Sheikh Abdullah to not isolate Kashmir from India.

The debate will continue on Tuesday.  End

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Rajeev Pai

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