New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on the opposition Congress in the Rajya Sabha, saying the party has treated the Constitution as a family’s “private fiefdom” and “cheated” Parliament. Shah also accused the Gandhi-Nehru family of undermining the integrity of the Constitution.
Concluding the two-day debate on “75 years of glorious journey of Indian Constitution”, Shah criticized the Congress for its politics of appeasement and claimed that the party wants to break the 50 per cent quota limit to give reservation to Muslims.
The Union Home Minister mentioned that the Congress had made many amendments in the Constitution and claimed that the party had done it for its own benefit. “The first amendment was by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to curtail freedom of speech. On November 24, 1971, his daughter (former Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi brought the 24th Amendment. Parliament was empowered to curtail the fundamental rights of citizens,” he said.
Blaming EVMs for the defeat in Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections, Shah slammed the Congress for being a “pregnant loser” and said the party should drop its canard against EVMs and return to its politics of appeasement and dynasticism and corruption. to power
“In the last 75 years, the Congress has played fraud in the name of the Constitution… They (Nehru-Gandhi family) treated the party not only as their private property but also the Constitution as their private estate,” Shah alleged. Regarding insertion of Article 35A without Parliamentary approval.
Criticizing the Congress for introducing reservation on the basis of religion in the two states, Shah called it “unconstitutional”.
“The Congress wants to increase the quota limit beyond 50 percent and give reservation to Muslims. Even though the BJP has only one MP, it does not allow reservation on the basis of religion,” the Union Home Minister said. He also asked the Congress if it supported the Muslim Personal Law and accused the party of never working for the welfare. Backward Classes.
Shah asserted that the BJP has already introduced the Common Civil Code (Uniform Civil Code) in Uttarakhand and will implement it in all states.
“The Constitution clearly says that no reservation shall be made on the basis of religion… They (Congress) do not want the welfare of OBCs, they want to increase the limit to 50 per cent and give reservation to Muslims. But today, I say again with responsibility in this House that unless the BJP has one There are also MPs, we will not give reservation on the basis of religion,” the home minister emphasized.
He recalled that on August 10, 1975, the Allahabad High Court had declared Indira Gandhi’s election null and void, thereby imposing the Emergency. “She also amended the constitution to prevent judicial inquiry into the actions of the prime minister. I urge my communist brothers to introspect about the company they keep,” said Shah.
The Union Home Minister also accused the Congress of being anti-reservation. He said that the Kaka Kalelkar Commission was set up in 1955 to give reservation to OBCs, but the report was nowhere to be found.
“If Kaka Kalelkar had accepted the Commission’s recommendations, the Mandal Commission would not have been formed. Although the recommendations of the Mandal Commission came in 1980, they were not implemented. It was implemented when the Congress was voted out in 1990,’ said Shah. He also alleged that the Congress had amended the constitution to stay in power and for its own benefit.