PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi Reignite Constitution Debate On Day 1 Of Parliament Session

The Constitution debate, key in the Lok Sabha campaigning of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, made a comeback on the first day of the Parliament session on Monday.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the Emergency and attack on the Constitution, the Opposition leaders took oaths holding a copy of the Constitution and even protested outside with a copy of the book.

Ahead of the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha, PM Modi took a swipe at the Congress over the Emergency, calling it a “black spot”.

Rahul Gandhi said they would not allow the Constitution to be “attacked” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

WHAT MODI SAID

Modi said, “Tomorrow is 25th June. 25th June marks 50 years of the blot that was put on the democracy of India. The new generation of India will never forget that the Constitution of India was completely rejected, every part of the Constitution was torn to pieces, the country was turned into a prison, and democracy was completely suppressed.”

“While protecting our Constitution, while protecting the democracy of India and the democratic traditions, the countrymen will take a resolution that no one will dare to do such a thing in India again, which was done 50 years ago. We will take a resolution of a vibrant democracy. We will take a resolution to fulfil the dreams of the common people as per the directions of the Constitution of India,” he said.

The then prime minister Indira Gandhi, a stalwart Congress leader, had imposed the Emergency in 1975, suspending civil liberties, jailing opposition leaders and dissidents and effecting press censorship.

WHAT OPPOSITION SAID

Buoyed by its strong show in the Lok Sabha polls in which the NDA secured a majority, but with reduced numbers, the opposition INDIA bloc MPs gathered in the Parliament Complex on Monday in a show of strength.

Opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool Congress’ Sudip Bandyopadhyay, DMK’s TR Baalu, among others, assembled at the spot where the Gandhi statue once stood in the Parliament Complex. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi also joined the MPs.

Holding copies of the Constitution in their hands, they raised slogans such as ‘Long live Constitution’, ‘We will save Constitution’, ‘Save our democracy’. “This [BJP’s attack on the Constitution] is not acceptable to us and that is why we held the Constitution and took oath. Our message is reaching the public and no power can touch the Constitution of India and we will protect it,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi’s sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that the “Constitution is the protective shield of the rights of the people in our country”. “In the last 10 years, the BJP government has tried to damage this protective shield in many ways and attacked the rights of the people. Even today, our young colleagues have been protesting for many days regarding transparency in examinations, but the government is not listening to their demands. In this era, the book of Constitution is our strength, the Constitution is the voice of people’s rights. Following the values ​​given by the Constitution, we will raise the voice of the people from the streets to the Parliament,” she wrote on X.

Congress leader KC Venugopal said the INDIA bloc leaders entered the 18th Lok Sabha with Mahatma Gandhi’s blessings.

The Gandhi statue, which was a popular protest site for MPs, was recently relocated along with 14 other statues that dotted the complex to a new spot named Prerna Sthal.

LEADERSPEAK

Goa CM Pramod Sawant said the Constitution was actually in danger during the Congress regime. “Under PM Modi’s regime it is ‘Sab Ka Sath Sab Ka Vikas’,” he said.

Union minister and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy criticised the Congress MPs for carrying copies of the Constitution to Parliament. Calling it a “gimmick”, he said, “He [Modi] is right [about Emergency]. He remembered what happened at that time.”

LS POLL CAMPAIGN

In his LS poll campaign, Rahul Gandhi maintained that this is an election to save democracy, reservation, the Constitution and the rights of the poor. He had said that the BJP, if it won 400+ seats, as per their slogan, would uproot the Constitution and the rights of the poor. Refuting the claims, the PM had spoken about how Muslims are being given reservations in Karnataka against the ethos of the Constitution while robbing those who deserve it. He said they planned to give the quota meant for Dalits, SCs, STs, and OBCs to Muslims in the name of religion.

Several opposition parties have claimed that the mandate of 2024 Lok Sabha elections was against the ruling BJP, even though it was able to form the government with support of other parties. The INDIA bloc has also claimed that the results show that the people have backed the opposition parties to “save the Constitution”.