In RS, Nadda takes aim at Congress: Bad lot interfered with Constitution

“However good a Constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad,” Nadda said, quoting B R Ambedkar. “The bad lot had decided to interfere with the Constitution since the very beginning,” he added.

On a day two Bills to implement the mechanism to hold joint elections were introduced in the Lok Sabha amid fierce pushback from the Opposition, Nadda said it was Congress that had created the situation forcing the government to take this step.

He said Article 356, which empowers the Centre to suspend the state legislature and govern states through the Governor, had been used “90 times”: “eight times by Nehru, 50 times by Indira Gandhi… Rajiv Gandhi ji used it nine times and Manmohan Singh used it 10 times”

“We have to bring the One Nation One Election bill because you toppled elected governments in states, and elections had to be held,” said Nadda.

Accusing the Congress of doing injustice with the backward classes, Nadda said it toppled the government of Chaudhary Charan Singh. “You also toppled the elected government of Deve Gowda ji who represents the backward community. So, do not try to become champion of backwards,” he said, adding that former PM Rajiv Gandhi had also opposed the implementation of the Mandal Commission report.

On Katchatheevu, Nadda alleged the Congress had bypassed the Constitution to cede the island to Sri Lanka. “Kachchatheevu is an island which was under the jurisdiction of Tamil Nadu before it ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974. Mrs (Indira) Gandhi gave Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka unilaterally. And the transfer was executed without amending the Constitution of India raising significant constitutional legal questions,” he said.

As Nadda was speaking on Kachchatheevu, DMK member Tiruchi Siva stood up and said the DMK was in power in Tamil Nadu at that time and the party had passed a resolution in the Assembly that the island should not be ceded to Sri Lanka. “So DMK can not be charged at any point of time that we were silent,” said Siva. Nadda replied that “it was time (for DMK) to re-think association with Congress”.

Nadda also said June 25 will be observed as “Loktantra virodhi diwas” to mark the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency in 1975. He said Congress members should take part in the discussion on that day if their leaders “have atoned (for Emergency)”. He also praised The Indian Express and The Statesman for not accepting censorship during the Emergency.