Modi accused Congress of repeatedly amending the Constitution and said many times the changes were “self-serving”…reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the Congress of manipulating reservations for appeasement, harming SC, ST, and OBC communities and said Dr BR Ambedkar had introduced the reservation system to ensure equality and rights for the underprivileged.
“Baba Saheb Ambedkar dedicated his life to uplift marginalised communities for India’s progress. He believed that to make our country developed in a true sense, no section should remain weak. For this, he introduced the reservation system to ensure equality and rights for the underprivileged. However, vote-bank politics by them (Congress) hijacked this system, manipulating reservations for appeasement, harming SC, ST, and OBC communities,” PM Modi said in his speech during discussion on the 150 years of adoption of Constitution.
He accused Congress of repeatedly amending the Constitution and said many times the changes were “self-serving”.
“In almost six decades, the Constitution was amended 75 times. The poison that was sowed by the first Prime Minister of the country was nurtured by another Prime Minister – Indira Gandhi…,” PM Modi said.
“Congress has constantly disrespected the Constitution, reduced the importance of the Constitution. Congress is full of many examples of this… 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 have strangled it too. They 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 alleged
PM Modi said that Congress violated its own constitution and there was little hope of it respecting the country’s Constitution.
He said Congress committees favoured Sardar Patel for the role of Prime Minister but Jawaharlal Nehru was chosen.
“Twelve state Congress committees of Congress had agreed on the name of Sardar Patel. There was not a single committee with Nehru ji… As per the Constitution, Sardar Sahib would have become the Prime Minister of the country… How can those who do not believe in the Constitution of their party accept the Constitution of the country?”
The two-day debate on 75 years of the Constitution started in Lok Sabha on Friday.
Opposition criticises Modi’s address
Meanwhile, the Opposition leaders critically responded to Modi’s speech in the Lok Sabha on Saturday, describing it as a ‘mixed’ kind of speech and further questioned the government’s record on past promises.
TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said there was “nothing to bite” in the Prime Minister’s address and defended the Congress party’s role in India’s freedom struggle. He asserted that the PM had to accept Congress’s role as the main strength in the fight against the British Raj.
“There was nothing to bite in this speech…PM had to accept that he could speak about the dynasty, but Congress was the main strength to fight against the British government. Every Indian recognises their role in the freedom struggle. So, we are sure that the angle PM took today is not up to the mark,” the TMC MP said.
“If a person speaks for two hours, many issues will come out. So, there may be a few good issues. There may be a few bad issues also. So, it was a mixed kind of speech,” he added.
In a similar vein, Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav critiqued the Prime Minister’s address, focusing on the government’s record of fulfilling past promises.
“If the prime minister’s old resolutions had been fulfilled, then new resolutions could also have been discussed,” Yadav said, emphasising that the government should address its previous commitments before making new pledges.
“The Prime Minister has been saying many things since 2014. Until the old promises are not fulfilled, it is useless to have expectations for new things,” the SP MP added.
Meanwhile, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra criticised PM Modi’s speech, calling it “absolutely boring” and devoid of anything new or constructive.
“PM Narendra Modi did not say anything new or constructive. He absolutely bored me. I thought he would say something significant, but he spoke about 11 hollow promises. If he has zero tolerance towards corruption, he should at least hold a debate on Adani,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav commented that the speech was a reiteration of “11 jumlas.”
“It was a very long speech. We got to hear the pledge of 11 jumlas today. Those who criticise dynastic politics have a party full of dynasties. The truth is that the reservation for SC/ST, OBC, and Dalits has been taken away. A day will soon come when a caste census will be conducted, and people will receive their rights and respect according to their population,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on Congress on Saturday, accusing it of constantly disrespecting the Constitution and presented eleven pledges for India’s bright future, noting that the government and people should follow their duties and the country’s politics should be free of “parivarvad”.
Responding to the two-day discussion in Lok Sabha on 75 years of the Constitution, PM Modi made repeated reference to the Nehru-Gandhi family, accusing every generation of its leaders of disrespecting the Constitution. (ANI)