Modi blames Congress for stifling Constitution across 7 decades
PM Modi criticized Congress for disrespecting the Constitution, citing Emergency and political manipulation, while contrasting BJP's amendments as beneficial.
The Congress never respected the Constitution and five generations of leaders tried to insult and undermine the sacred document for political gain and appeasement politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, lashing out at the biggest Opposition party for what he called the indelible sin of imposing the Emergency and damaging constitutional freedoms.
Closing the two-day special debate in the Lok Sabha marking 75 years of the Constitution, Modi also drew a contrast between constitutional amendments brought by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, claimed the opposition party was historically against reservations, hailed the achievements of his government, stressed his welfare outreach was guided by the Constitution, and read out 11 pledges to make India a developed nation by 2047, the centenary of Independence.
In an expansive speech in Hindi clocking 110 minutes, the PM repeatedly singled out the Congress and the Gandhi family, criticising it for the biggest “jumla”, or false promise, of “Garibi Hatao” (eradicate poverty) -- a poll slogan that contributed to Indira Gandhi’s landslide victory in the 1971 elections. He also said that his government was always working to strengthen the unity and integrity of the nation – a key concern driving the drafters of the Constitution.
“One family of the Congress left no stone unturned in wounding the Constitution. They ruled for 55 of the 75 years of our journey, so the country has the right to know what happened. The tradition of this family’s ill thoughts, perverted politics and practices was continuous. The family repeatedly challenged the Constitution at all levels,” Modi said.
“Destroying the spirit of the Constitution is in the Congress’s veins. For us, the purity and sanctity of the Constitution is everything,” he added.
He repeatedly mentioned the Emergency, which coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Constitution, to hit out at the Congress. “The country was made into a prison and the common citizen’s rights were looted. The sin of the Congress can never be erased. Democracy was throttled,” he said.
“The Congress repeatedly insulted, undermined and cheated the Constitution,” he added.
The PM was replying to the two-day debate on the Constitution that proceeded smoothly, save brief disruptions.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the PM didn’t say anything new in the speech. “He has bored us. It took me back decades... I felt like I am sitting in that double period of Mathematics,” she said.
Modi said that between 1947 and 1952, an interim government that had won no elections and had no popular mandate changed the Constitution and attacked freedom of expression. At the time, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was leading an interim government in the run to independent India’s first generations elections in 1951-52.
“This was an insult of the Constitution’s founders and a grave insult to them. What they couldn’t do in the Constituent Assembly, they did it through the back door. That was a sin,” he said.
He was referring to the first amendment to the Constitution that made a raft of changes, including imposing some restrictions on freedom of speech, safeguarding zamindari abolition laws, and firewalling laws that helped weaker sections mount legal challenges based on the right to equality.
Modi alleged that Nehru wrote to chief ministers at the time and said that if the Constitution came in the government’s way, it must be amended. “This sin was done in 1951. The country was not quiet. [President] Rajendra Prasad, the Speaker [GV Mavalankar], JB Kripalani and Jayaprakash Narayan told Nehru to stop. But he didn’t heed to these senior leaders’ advice,” Modi said.
The PM said Congress governments amended the Constitution 75 times in six decades. “Congress tasted the blood of amending the Constitution, It kept bloodying the spirit of the Constitution. The seed that the first PM sowed was nurtured by Indira Gandhi,” he said.
He said that in 1971, the Constitution was amended to reverse a Supreme Court order, referring to the 25th amendment that was brought to roll back the top court’s landmark verdict in Golaknath vs Punjab, which found that the Union government had no power to alter fundamental rights.
“When her election was found unconstitutional by a court, which almost forced her to resign, she got angry and imposed Emergency to save her chair,” he said.
He also referred to the 39th amendment passed in 1975 that placed the elections of the President, vice-president, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha beyond the scrutiny of courts.
During the Emergency, thousands were jailed, courts were throttled and newspapers muzzled. When HR Khanna gave a judgment respecting the Constitution, he was stopped from becoming the Chief Justice of India…The heartless government shattered the Constitution,” he said, referring to justice Khanna’s famous dissent in the ADM Jabalpur case.
Modi then moved on to Rajiv Gandhi, whom he blamed for vote bank politics during the Shah Bano controversy. “He gave a shock to the Constitution and damaged the spirit of equality and justice before all,” he said.
Modi said when the Supreme Court gave rights to the elderly Shah Bano, Rajiv Gandhi bowed to orthodoxy and reversed the ruling through a new law.
In 1985, the top court ruled in favour of Bano and awarded her maintenance as a divorced Muslim woman. Amid pushback from orthodox groups, the central government pushed through a law the next year that largely undid the verdict’s fallout.
“For vote bank politics, Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed the Constitution. He toyed with the Constitution, a practice that was continued by the next generation,” he said.
He then launched a veiled attack at former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and then PM Manmohan Singh with quotes that appeared to be taken from Sanjaya Baru’s 2014 book The Accidental Prime Minister. In the book, Baru, who was Singh’s media adviser from 2004 to 2008, had quoted Singh as telling him that there couldn’t be two centres of power. “I have to accept that the party president is the centre of power. The government is answerable to the party,” Baru wrote, ostensibly quoting Singh.
Modi took aim at the National Advisory Council, a body headed by Sonia Gandhi, saying it was placed above the Prime Minister’s Office.
He also hit out at Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, recalling how he had torn in public an ordinance – aimed at shielding convicted lawmakers from immediate disqualification – approved by the Cabinet in 2013. “The decision of the cabinet was torn in public. See the misfortune, one person tears the resolution and the Cabinet changes its decision. What was this system? It was their habit to toy with the Constitution and undermine it,” Modi said.
The PM drew a contrast between the constitutional amendments brought by the BJP and the Congress, alleging that while the former was rectifying past mistakes, the latter was using the Constitution as a political pawn.
He said his government amended the Constitution for the welfare of the other backward classes, to bring reservations for economically weaker sections, to implement women’s reservation, to nullify Article 370 that accorded special status to Jammu & Kashmir. “We amended the Constitution for unity, integrity and in national interest, not committed sin for power,” he said.
Modi also mocked the Congress, saying an outfit that never adhered to its party constitution was steeped in dynasty politics. He gave the example of Vallabhbhai Patel not becoming the PM and the treatment of former party chief Sitaram Kesri to allege that one family had captured the Congress. “Those who lack democratic spirit, who couldn’t obey their party constitution, how will they respect the country’s constitution?” he asked.
In contrast, he gave the example of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who he said chose to respect the Constitution and resign from power after losing the vote of confidence in 1996 and 1998 without resorting to any unconstitutional means to cling to power. “Other side caused the cash for votes scandal, Parliament was made into a market. But Atal ji was committed to the Constitution.”
He blamed the Congress for implementing Article 35A – which gave special benefits to permanent residents of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir – without parliamentary approval and alleged that successive Congress governments insulted Dr BR Ambedkar by leaving planned memorials and buildings unfinished. These projects were completed by BJP governments, he added.
“They were filled with hate and bitterness towards a man everyone reveres,” he said.
Modi hailed Ambedkar, saying his foresightedness resulted in reservations for marginalised castes but alleged that the Congress neglected to celebrate his centenary and was an impediment to India’s first law minister being conferred the Bharat Ratna, which eventually happened in 1990 under a non-Congress administration.
“These people who know vote bank politics wanted to do religious appeasement and damaged the SC/ST/OBC people…from Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi, Congress PMs opposed reservations,” he said.
He said the Congress put the Mandal Commission report, which recommended OBC quotes in jobs and education, on the backburner for decades, and repeatedly attempted to bring in religious quotas.
“This is the sin of the Congress. For power and to appease vote banks, the Congress tried to reverse the Constituent Assembly’s decision against religious quotas,” he said.
Countering the PM, Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal said “...While the people were expecting an answer from him on the injustice and inequality facing Indian society, he chose to bring up stale narratives against the Congress, which have lost all resonance among the public.”
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