Stop blaming Nehru, work for people: BJP protests

Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh Narayan Singh, LOP Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress MPs Pramod Tiwari, Jairam Ramesh, and others Union Home Minister Amit Shah were present during the winter session of Parliament as they spoke during the Constitution debate in Parliament. 17, 2024 Photo credit: PTI

In the Rajya Sabha, the opposition has targeted the Center for violating constitutional principles in the past 10 years while participating in the debate on the 75 glorious years of the Constitution. They have asked the Narendra Modi government not to blame Jawaharlal Nehru and to focus on addressing the current problems of the people of the country.

In a sharp attack, Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain said that BJP members are worried about adding socialism in the preamble of the constitution because they are against equal society. He said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke extensively about socialism and BJP does not accept the concept of socialist structure of society. “What is your problem with socialism?” Are you having problems with reservation in government and public sector jobs? Is there a problem with land distribution? Are you against poor people living with dignity? Are you against their children getting a good education? Are you against the poor getting jobs under MGNREGA or getting food under the Food Security Act? ” he asked the BJP members. ‘This is socialism. This is the socialist structure of the society,’ he said that the demand to remove socialism from the preamble came from a ‘humanist’ mentality.

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He added that the prime minister has been talking about “zero tolerance against corruption” but has not set up any probe into the Rafale scam and failed to set up a joint parliamentary committee on the Adani case and the electoral bond case.

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien said the Constitution is more than a book in a library, it is a living and breathing document on the streets. “Look at your arrogance on a day when we are debating the Constitution of India, your hubris compels you to introduce a Constitution Bill at 12 noon,” Mr O’Brien said. He said that the opposition will not allow Parliament to turn into RSS shakha (a branch). He talked about the three words ‘federalism’, ‘media’ and ‘opposition’ which are not mentioned in the constitution but are important. He accused the state of not giving central funds and indulging in political federalism. In the media, he asked the owners of 10 big media houses to do self-examination and pointed out various cases where the opposition was not allowed to speak in Parliament. “The Bengal assembly unanimously passed two bills – one to change the name of the state and the other to fast-track women’s protection. What happened to them? The governor’s office kept them in deep freeze. And now the bill is in the Supreme Constitutional Court in Delhi,” he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that if the BJP had succeeded in getting more than 400 seats as per its election slogan, there would have been a debate if the Parliament had not talked about the 75 years of the Indian Constitution. on the changes to be made to it.

JMM’s Mahua Mazi said that in the 75th year of the Indian Constitution, people expected the ruling party to defend the Constitution, but instead its members raised divisive slogans like “Batenge to Katenge” in the recent Jharkhand assembly elections.

CPI(M) deputy leader John Brittas urged the Center to form a Jawaharlal Nehru ministry to lay the entire blame for the administrative failure on the first prime minister. Mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 11-point mantra in the Constitution, he said Mr. Modi asked others to shoulder the responsibility, but failed to fulfill his duty by not visiting riot-hit Manipur. “Let the Prime Minister go to Manipur, fulfill his responsibilities as the Prime Minister of this country. His 11-mantra that he gave on the floor of the Lok Sabha, let him do it,” Mr. Britas said. He said the country was in an undeclared crisis, adding that people had lost faith in constitutional bodies like the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Election Commission, Parliament and the media. Mr. Britas was a former BJP leader. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also recalled comparing Mr. Nehru with Lord Ram.

RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, quoting folk hero JP Narayan’s letter, said Jawaharlal Nehru would remain a symbol of parliamentary democracy against authoritarianism despite the BJP’s attempts to malign him and portray him as a villain. Mr. Jha asked the BJP to look at the conditions of the 1940s when Mr. Nehru ruled from the colonial rulers. He said that the ancestors created the basis for the current ruler to work. “Making the ground floor of a house is the most difficult task. Nehru, Ambedkar and Patel laid the foundations. You (BJP-NDA) are building the second and third floors. You can build five more floors but without a foundation, the floor has no function. We should always keep this in mind,’ said Mr. Jha.