On the first day of the discussion on the Constitution in Lok Sabha Friday, Opposition MPs attacked the BJP, alleging that the ruling party had disrupted the country’s communal harmony and, thus, tinkered with the Constitution’s secular values.
DMK’s T R Balu also expressed disappointment with the President’s address, saying it did not make any mention of socialism and secularism. “I felt that the heart and soul of the Constitution was not there. In the Preamble, socialism and secularism are the most important aspects… Government is allergic to both… They are not just terms, they embody India’s democratic, inclusive and egalitarian vision,” he said.
While citing incidents such as Graham Stein’s killing in Odisha in 1999 and the 2002 Gujarat riots, Balu said the “situation today” was “grimmer, because marginalised classes and minorities have a strong feeling that they have been left out and their livelihood is under serious threat.”
“That is why we feel President (Droupadi Murmu) should have mentioned in her address that government is committed to socialist and secular values of Constitution. It would have reassured the 142 crore people of the country,” he said.
CPM’s R Sachithanantham said the Constitution was facing its “biggest threat in history”. “India became a secular nation because of the Constitution. The threat to the Constitution emanates from the very people who are now entrusted with upholding the Constitution. The ruling BJP-RSS combine adheres to the Hindutva ideology which is inimical to the basic values of the Constitution. The RSS and its ideologues have never hidden their contempt for the Constitution. Ever since Modi came to power, his ministers are talking about changing the Constitution,” he said.
TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee said that in the last 10 years “secularism has been at stake”. “We can see discrimination on the basis of religion at the behest of the ruling party. Attempts have been made by the ruling party to curtail Constitutional rights,” he said, adding fundamental rights of people were being abrogated.
“Rights of the people of Manipur have been violated time and again. We have seen rapes, murders. Have the Constitutional rights of people of Manipur been protected?… PM went to West Bengal and said Sandeshkhali was part of India. Is Manipur not part of the country?” he said.
Raising the Babri issue, E T Mohammed Basheer of the IUML called the mosque’s demolition on December 6, 1992 “the saddest day as far as secular India is concerned”. On that day, he added, those who demolished Babri masjid shouted “yeh to keval jhanki hai, Kashi, Mathura baaki hai. (This is just a preview, Kashi and Mathura are next in line).”
Basheer also referred to the recent Sambhal incident and said that when survey officials went to the Sambhal mosque, Jai Shree Ram slogan were shouted.
Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Arvind Sawant said the current government was “playing with the Constitution”. “There is no need to impose an emergency, an undeclared emergency is effective,” he said.
Raj Kumar Roat of Bharat Advasi Party (BAP) said there was a demand for caste census for a long time but the exercise was not being conducted, “which is also an attack on the Constitution”.
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