Rajnath leads govt charge on Day 1 of debate

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh defends the Constitution as a reflection of India's values, criticizing Congress for using it for political gain.

The Constitution is not the product of a “particular party”, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday, asserting that the document was neither a gift of colonial rule nor a compilation of good things borrowed from the constitutions of Western countries, but an expression of the country’s “civilisational values.”

Defence ninister Rajnath Singh speaks in Lok Sabha on Friday. (ANI)

Speaking in the Lok Sabha to open the debate marking 75 years of the Constitution, Singh took a sharp dig at the Congress and said Opposition leaders were roaming around with copies of the Constitution in their pockets.

“Today many leaders of the Opposition roam around with the copies of the Constitution in their pockets. Inhone bachpan se yahi dekha hai (this is what they have learnt from their childhood)... For generations they have seen their family members keep the Constitution in their pockets,” Singh said.

He was taking a potshot at Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, and other Congress leaders carrying copies of the Constitution while on campaign trails.

Attacking the Congress for disrespecting the Constitution, he said the 41st Constitutional Amendment Bill was introduced in 1976, the purpose of which was to provide immunity from criminal prosecution to the Prime Minister, governors and the President for all acts done before assuming office and during their tenure.

“The 38th Constitutional Amendment tried to make the decision to impose emergency ‘non-justiciable’. The Election Law Amendment Bill was brought, with the sole objective of giving immunity to all those electoral malpractices that challenged the election of Mrs Indira Gandhi,” he said.

The Union minister said the Constitution was the result of nearly three years of rigorous debate and deliberation and was not merely a legal document but a reflection of the aspirations of the people, and also a means to fulfil them.

“It was an expression of the general will of the people. After many centuries, once again the destiny of India was in the hands of the people of India. The dream of Swaraj, which was seen by the freedom fighters of India and common Indians, had been fulfilled,” he said. 

Describing the Constitution as “sovereign and omnipotent”, Singh said the document paved the way for nation-building, touching upon all aspects of social, economic, political and cultural life. “At the same time, it also creates a moral trajectory for people,” he said.

While the Congress and other opposition parties accused the BJP of wanting to alter the Constitution and made this charge a focal point of their 2024 elections campaign, Singh said the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder and ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee believed that the Constitution should be the result of collective efforts and consensus. “In 1944, six years before our Constitution was written, many prominent leaders gave their views about the Constitution in a document called “Constitution of the Hindusthan Free State”. It also spoke of ensuring religious freedom for all citizens,” he said.

He said the Narendra Modi government’s mantra of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas” was in accordance with the spirit of dharma and justice enshrined in the Constitution.

He said while the Congress always used the Constitution as a medium for political gains, giving preference to “satta” over “samvidhan” (power over Constitution), the BJP’s commitment to the Constitution was very clear.

“We have never played with the independence and autonomy of any institution. The values of the Constitution are not just a matter of saying or showing for us. The values of the Constitution, the path shown by the Constitution, the principles of the Constitution, will be visible everywhere in our minds, in our word, in deed,” he said.

He said the Constitution stood firm even in the face of Emergency and corrupt governments. “You look at the history, even during the dark days of Emergency, we strongly opposed every attempt to undermine the basic character of the Constitution,” he said.

To counter the opposition’s demand for caste-census, he said the party should explain how it proposes to rejig quotas. “... It should not be used to deceive people. You should tell how much reservation you want to offer to which caste,” Singh said.