PM Modi: Nehru to Rahul, Congress inflicted repeated blows on Constitution

Significantly, Modi also reiterated his government’s commitment to a Uniform Civil Code, saying it was focussing all its strength on bringing a “secular civil code”, in keeping with the “spirit of the Constitution”.

In his nearly two-hour-long address, Modi repeatedly spoke about the unity of the country, saying that diversity was India’s uniqueness and should be celebrated. That would be the best tribute to B R Ambedkar, he said.

For the most part of his speech, however, Modi targeted the Congress, listing instances when the Nehru-Gandhi family “challenged” the Constitution “at every level”. In contrast, he said, his government lives by the spirit of the Constitution, and its policies and decisions since 2014 have been aimed at boosting India’s strength and unity in line with the vision of the Constitution.

Seeking to counter the Congress’s pitch on reservation, Modi said: “From Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi, the Congress’s PMs strongly opposed reservation. History attests to this. Nehru wrote long letters to the Chief Ministers opposing reservation. Not just that, they gave long speeches against reservation in Parliament… For decades, the Mandal Commission report was kept in the bin… It was only when the Congress was removed from power… that OBCs got reservation.”

“This is the sin of the Congress… had reservation been given to OBCs earlier…they would have been holding several posts now in service of the country. But they (Congress) did not allow it to happen,” he said, adding that SCs, STs and OBCs lost out the most because of Congress’s appeasement politics.

Rahul has often spoken about dismal representation of SCs, STs and OBCs in higher bureaucracy.

Modi said the Congress was now “playing a game” to bring in reservation on the basis of religion. While the makers of the Constitution took a considered decision to disallow reservation on the basis of religion, in the interest of the country’s unity and integrity, the Congress, in its “greed for power” and to “appease its vote bank”, is pushing for it, in violation of the constitutional spirit, he said.

“In some places, they had given it too. Now, they are facing setbacks from the Supreme Court. Aur isliye ab doosre bahaane se… yeh karenge, woh karenge… saaf hai dharam ke aadhaar par aarakshan dena chahte hai.. Isliye yeh khel khele ja rahe hai (Hence, with different excuses… will do this, will do that…. it is clear they want to give reservation on the basis of religion… that is why this game is being played),” he said.

Modi accused the Nehru-Gandhi family of denigrating the spirit of the Constitution – from the amendments brought by former PMs Nehru, Indira and Rajiv; to Sonia Gandhi’s “non-constitutional” National Advisory Council (NAC) being “placed above” the PM and his Cabinet; to Rahul’s public rejection of an ordinance brought by the then Manmohan Singh government. The PM did not name Rahul, only referring to him as an “arrogant person”.

“This family challenged the Constitution at every level,” Modi said, adding that the first blow to the Constitution was inflicted by the “non-elected” Nehru government in 1951, when it amended the Constitution to “curtail freedom of speech and expression”.

“From 1947 to 1952, there was no elected government but a selected government. It was an interim system. The Constitution was amended, in an insult to the makers of the Constitution, through the back-door. He (Nehru) was not the PM of an elected government. He committed a sin,” he said.

Having “tasted blood”, every generation of the family repeatedly wounded the Constitution, Modi said. Pressing his point, he listed the 24th Amendment in 1971 which gave Parliament the power to amend any part of the Constitution, including Fundamental Rights; imposition of Emergency by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975; and passage of a law by the Rajiv Gandhi government to nullify the Supreme Court’s Shah Bano judgment in 1986.

The Congress can never wash off the blot, he said, adding that he was singling out the family as its members were in power for 55 years.

Modi also accused the Congress of denigrating Constitutional institutions, saying Article 35A was inserted in the Constitution without the approval of Parliament. “They had the majority at that time… but still Parliament was kept in the dark. They wanted to hide it from the people,” he said.

Modi also reiterated his government’s commitment to bring a Uniform Civil Code. “Keeping in mind the spirit of the Constitution and the Constitution makers, hum poori taqaaat se lage hue hai secular civil code ke liye (we are focussing all our strength on bringing a secular civil code),” he said.

In his Independence Day address this year, Modi had said it was time for the country to move towards a civil code that is secular, and not communal and discriminatory. In Lok Sabha on Saturday, Modi said the Constituent Assembly wanted a Uniform Civil Code to be implemented by an elected government.

The makers of the Constitution, including B R Ambedkar and K M Munshi, argued the need for abolishing personal laws based on religion, he said. The Supreme Court, too, had spoken many times about the need to implement a Uniform Civil Code, he added.

Modi said that every big decision of his government — be it abrogation of Article 370, implementation of GST, rollout of initiatives like one nation, one health card — were aimed at fostering unity. While emphasising unity, he also spoke about celebrating India’s diversity. “We have to make the festival of diversity a part of our life, which would be the real tribute to Ambedkar,” he said.

Modi said the Congress, which did not adhere to its own constitution, has no right to talk about the country’s Constitution. Democratic spirit does not run in its veins, he said. He said the Congress had made Nehru the PM, overruling the views of as many 12 state units of the party which had thrown their weight behind Vallabhbhai Patel. “Not a single committee was with Nehru…how can people who did not adhere to their own party’s constitution accept the Constitution of the country,” he said.

“And what happened to former Congress president Sitaram Kesri who belonged to an extremely backward caste? He was locked in the bathroom, thrown on the footpath. The entire party is controlled by one family. They disregarded democracy,” he said.

On the other hand, Modi said, the A B Vajpayee government resigned when it could not prove majority in 1996. “That showed our commitment to the spirit of the Constitution… we did not distribute posts… offer someone Deputy Prime Minister’s post… to cling to power,” he said.

“We did not choose the path of bargaining… in 1999, Vajpayee chose to resign after his government lost by one vote… we did not resort to horse-trading… That is our history, our culture, our tradition. And on the other side, we saw the cash-for-vote scandal (during the 2008 no-confidence vote), wads of currency in Parliament…they turned the spirit of democracy into a market… Be it the past or now…Congress is known for its greed for power,” he said.

Modi said the Congress amended the Constitution several times for the sake of power. He said the Congress amended the Constitution to make the PM, President and Governor immune from any judicial action. On the other hand, he said, his government amended the Constitution to provide 10 per cent reservation for poor in the general category, to empower women by giving them 33 per cent reservation in Parliament and Assemblies, to bring down the wall of Article 370 to preserve unity and ensure the Constitution is implemented in every part of the country.

Saying that the favourite word of Congress leaders nowadays is “jumla”, Modi said the biggest jumla was “gareebi hatao”, a slogan coined by Indira Gandhi. “It was a ‘jumla’ which helped them politically, but did not help the poor,” he said.