Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has no knowledge of history and what efforts were made by his father, grandmother, and great-grandfather to tamper with the Constitution, Union minister and BJP president JP Nadda said on Sunday.
Speaking at the BJP’s ‘Samvidhan Gaurav Abhiyan’, he said the Congress ruled the country for 65 years and its leaders tampered with the Constitution and tried to destroy its basic provisions.
He attacked Gandhi for using the term “Indian state” in a comment against the Narendra Modi government, the BJ,P and RSS.
“Today our Congress leader says “fighting against the Indian state”. He has no knowledge of history, nor does he have anything to do with it,” Nadda said, adding that Gandhi “just reads” speeches handed over to him without making an effort to understand the contents and context.
Gandhi had recently said “the BJP and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) have captured every single institution in this country and we are now fighting the BJP, the RSS, and the Indian state itself”.
“As India gears up to celebrate its 76th Republic Day, we should remember who tampered with the Constitution, and tried to destroy its basic provisions, as well as who protected the Constitution, and who did the work of protecting and highlighting the ideas of Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Nadda said.
He said citizens must be conscious and wary of those hypocritical people who “keep roaming around with a copy of the Constitution without knowing or reading what is inside”.
Gandhi often holds up a copy of the Constitution at his poll rallies to attack the BJP.
“He does not know what his father (Rajiv Gandhi) great grandfather (Jawaharlal Nehru) and grandmother (Indira Gandhi) did. He should know these things,” Nadda said.
Quoting Ambedkar that even if the Constitution is bad, good can still be done if the intention of those who implement it is right, Nadda said Congress leaders were “bad” and the BJP leaders were “good” who took steps like scrapping Article 370 (in Jammu-Kashmir), implemented ‘one nation one tax’ and are moving towards implementing the Uniform Civil Code.
“When the Constitution was being adopted in 1949, Dr Ambedkar said that however good a Constitution is, if the one implementing it is bad, then it will fail,” Nadda told the gathering.
Nadda said that Article 370 and Article 35 (A) were implemented by India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru despite Ambedkar’s opposition and these provisions deprived the people of Jammu and Kashmir of basic rights enshrined in the Constitution.
These provisions, which were scrapped by the Narendra Modi government, had made J-K a mess, Nadda asserted.
“Ambedkar opposed it, and so did (Jana Sangh founder) Syama Prasad Mukherjee. The 126 laws that were passed in our Parliament were not implemented in J&K, depriving its people of various rights,” he said.
“You must understand the difference between the bad and good lot…When you made Modi the prime minister, then on August 6, 2019 Modi’s will power and Amit Shah’s strategy helped scrap Article 370,” the Union minister said.
Alluding to Emergency (1975-77), Nadda said Indira Gandhi tampered with the Constitution and sent 1.35 lakh people to jail, in the process destroying many families.
Nadda said it was a matter of pride that most of those who were jailed during Emergency were “from our ideology”.
He cited the 39th and 42nd Constitutional amendments (passed during Emergency to restrict judicial scope, and shifting of powers from states to Centre) that were enacted by the then Indira Gandhi government.
“Indira Gandhi wanted to mislead the country by raising tempting slogans. Therefore, she added the words secularism and socialism in the Constitution,” Nadda said.
How the Constitution works under “good people” can be seen in the way ‘one nation, one tax’ has been implemented, the way the nation is moving towards UCC, how OBC commission was granted constitutional status and the economically weaker section (EWS) was given 10 per cent reservation, Nadda pointe out.
“PM Modi ensured reservation of 27 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, to OBCs and EWS in medical seats, and Dalits were given quota in J&K. Also, for the first time elected leaders in J-K swore on the Indian Constitution, and members from SC and ST communities were elected to the legislative assembly (there),” Nadda said.
Modi ensured 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas, and made a law against triple talaq, he said.
While Modi has paid tribute to Ambedkar by making various memorials, Congress governments denied the legendary jurist and social reformer Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian award, Nadda added. (Agencies)
