With a sharp attack on the Modi government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi led the opposition today in a special discussion on the Constitution as Parliament convened for the winter session.
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NEW DELHI, NOV 27: Hopes of a thaw on the GST bill emerged tonight with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaching out to the Congress leadership, which will discuss within the party the government’s response to its three objections on the measure.
“Some people are creating misunderstandings”.
Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in Parliament on the debate on India’s Constitution, finance minister Arun Jaitley attacked the Congress party by talking about imposition of Emergency and subverting the Constitution.
Winding up his 63-minute long speech with slogans on “Idea of India” as Satyamev Jayate, Sarva Dharma Bhavo, etc., Modi talked of “India first” as the government’s “Dharma” and the Constitution as the “Dharma Granth” (religious book) but he padded up his “Idea of India” with quotes from the Hindu religious scriptures.
“The growth of this country is because of all the Prime Ministers and all governments. There should be no doubt about it”, he said.
Contending that the issue of reservation has been politicised, the Home Minister made it clear that quota was a constitutional provision and there was “no scope” for any further debate on the issue.
He sought the Opposition’s cooperation in facilitating passage of legislations in achieving these objectives.
The Congress leader said it would have been great if the government had remembered all those who were also part of the formation of the Constitution.
Highlighting the importance of a healthy discussion in the Parliament, Prime Minister Modi said the spirit of discussion in the Lok Sabha is “us” and not “me” or “you”.
“But he never said I have faced discrimination in India, so I will go somewhere else”, Rajnath Singh said, to which some Congress members objected.
Sonia said that the Constitution was organically linked to the Congress which had sent its leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Maulana Azad to the Constituent Assembly.
He said if Ambedkar had not laid stress on reservation, the plight of weaker sections would have been very bad. So, accordingly, November 26th, 2015, is considered as the first Indian constitution day. “In Pakistan or Syria even if Muslim is killed one can not open their mouth”, she said.
“Rajnath Singh has violated the oath of office by questioning in his speech in the Lok Sabha the insertion of “secular” word in the constitution”, Naik, Goa’s lone Rajya Sabha member, said in a statement here.
“Secularism is the most misused word in the country…This must stop”.
“Hard work of many leaders has gone into shaping India”.
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Naidu also said Ambedkar favoured inter-linking of rivers.
