Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged that the Congress, having “tasted blood”, repeatedly wounded the Constitution while his government’s policies and decisions since it took office in 2014 have been aimed at boosting India’s strength and unity in line with the vision of the Constitution.
Replying to a two-day debate in Lok Sabha on the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, he took a swipe at the past Congress governments, accusing them of planting “poisonous” seeds in the country’s diversity to accentuate its contradictions and damage its unity.
Training guns at the Nehru-Gandhi family of the Congress, he said they left no stone unturned in hurting the Constitution. “One Congress family relentlessly was pursuing wrong thoughts, wrong deeds and wrong policies. One Congress family changed the Constitution to attack freedom of expression, it was an insult to the founders of the Constitution,” Modi said.
“This family challenged the Constitution at every level,” he said, adding that he was singling out the family as its members were in power for 55 years. He alleged that Nehru had written to the chief ministers that if the Constitution came in the way, it should be changed. “The seeds sown by first PM Nehru in changing the Constitution was followed up by Indira Gandhi who even overturned a Supreme Court’s decision,” he said.
Modi noted that Indira Gandhi had clipped the wings of courts through Constitutional amendments to capture the judiciary. “Having tasted blood, Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency by misusing Constitution”.
Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency to save her chair as prime minister, Modi said, noting that she also effected an amendment to protect the president, vice president and herself from any legal challenge to their position with a retrospective effect
Mentioning the Shah Bano case, the prime minister said Rajiv Gandhi had dealt a big blow to the Constitution by overturning the SC ruling. The current generation of the Gandhi family taking forward the legacy of attacking the Constitution after tasting blood long back, he further said.
Without naming Rahul Gandhi, the prime minister said an “arrogant” person tore the decision of the Cabinet when the Congress-led UPA government headed by then prime minister Manmohan Singh was in power.
Noting that the founding fathers of the Constitution were very conscious of democratic legacy of the country, Modi said India is not just a large democracy, but the mother of democracy due to thousands of years of democratic traditions. The prime minister asserted that the country’s ancient democratic roots have long been an inspiration for the world.