Demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s apology for “twisting facts”, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge launched a scathing attack on the BJP as he countered the ruling party’s allegations against the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family, particularly former PMs Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Speaking after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the Constitution debate in the Upper House, Kharge said “the thought for a Constitution” was “deeply connected with Congress” as Nehru had made the demand for a Constituent Assembly the main issue of the 1937 elections. Taking on the BJP-RSS, he also said that it was because of the Congress that women’s reservation exists today and that universal adult franchise was a “contribution of Nehru”. “During 1951-52, Organiser (magazine linked to RSS) wrote against universal adult franchise, saying Pandit Nehru would live to confess the failure of universal adult franchise in India. So, they were against voting rights for women, shudras and the poor,” said Kharge. Countering the PM’s claim, as well as Sitharaman’s, that the first amendment to the Constitution by the “non-elected” Nehru government in 1951 was in bad faith, Kharge said: “You drifted so much in hatred for Nehru that you attacked the Constituent Assembly, the interim Parliament, (Vallabhbhai) Patel and Syama Prasad Mookerjee. He (PM) should accept his mistake. The PM forgot that the first amendment was made by the Provisional Parliament, and its members were members of the Constituent Assembly.” On Modi’s charge that Nehru wanted to “curtail freedom of speech and expression” and that “Nehru wrote long letters to the Chief Ministers opposing reservation”, Kharge said the 1951 amendment was done so that SCs and STs could get reservation, land reforms could happen, and to prevent communal propaganda. He said it was Patel who, “on July 3, 1950… wrote to Nehru and suggested a constitutional amendment as the way out”. “Therefore, Nehru wrote a letter to chief ministers. This has been mentioned in PM's speech after twisting facts to defame Nehru for which he should apologise to the nation. This is my demand.” “You are insulting Sardar Patel too,” Kharge added. Kharge said if the Congress had not done anything for the country when in power, as claimed by BJP, “you would not have become engineers and doctors and come to this House. Modi ji would not have become Prime Minister and a labour class person like me would not have become Leader of Opposition.” Praising Indira, Kharge said, “Today, the 16th December, is the Bangladesh liberation day. Our brave leader Indira Gandhi broke Pakistan into two, Bangladesh was liberated and made one lakh Pakistani soldiers prisoners. The iron lady showed none working against India can be at peace.” He then pointed towards the Treasury benches and said, “These people should at least try to save the minorities there.” Referring to the Emergency, Kharge said it was a mistake for which Indira bore criticism but that she stormed back to power. Attacking BJP and RSS, Kharge said, “What did they do for the Constitution, or how many times did they go to jail for the country.” “RSS leaders opposed the Constitution in 1949 because it was not based on the Manusmriti. Organiser editorial said that. For the first time on January 26, 2002, the RSS unfurled the Tricolour at its headquarters after a court order,” he said.
