JAMMU, Dec 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today that Article 370 of the Constitution of India granting special status to jammu and Kashmir had become a wall in unity of the country and that is why we buried it in the ground. He also made a reference of 35 A saying the Parliament was kept in dark on this Article.
Replying to a two-day debate in Lok Sabha on the ‘Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India’, Modi blamed Congress for problems in Jammu and Kashmir saying the Parliament was bypassed in bringing Article 35 A.
“Everyone knows about Article 370, but very few know about 35-A. If there is any first son of the Indian Constitution, it is the Parliament, but they strangled it as well,” the Prime Minister said, adding the Congress has continuously disrespected the Constitution.
“If 35-A was not there, the situation would not have been as it is today. The Parliament of the country was kept in the dark. They had sin in their stomach; they want to hide it from the people of the country. They didn’t do what they should have done,” he said.
Asserting that Article 370 had become a wall in unity of the country, Modi said unity of the country was our priority which was spirit of our Constitutions. And that is why we buried Article 370 in the ground, he added.
“If you look at our policies of the last 10 years, people of the country have given me the opportunity to serve. If you look at those policies and decisions, we have continuously been trying to strengthen unity of India,” the Prime Minister said.
On August 5, 2019, the Central Government headed by Narendra Modi abrogated Articles 370 and 35-A granting special status to erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into two Union Territories of J&K and ladakh .
The Prime Minister has repeatedly stated that BR Ambedkar’s Constitution was fully implemented in Jammu and Kashmir by his Government.
PTI adds: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the Congress, having “tasted blood”, repeatedly wounded the Constitution while his Government’s policies and decisions since it took office in 2014 have been aimed at boosting India’s strength and unity in line with the vision of the Constitution.
Replying to a two-day debate in Lok Sabha on the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, he took a swipe at the past Congress governments, accusing them of planting “poisonous” seeds in the country’s diversity to accentuate its contradictions and damage its unity.
Training guns at the Nehru-Gandhi family of the Congress, he said they left no stone unturned to strike blows to the Constitution.
“This family challenged the Constitution at every level,” he said, adding that he was singling out the family as its members were in power for 55 years.
The family, having “tasted blood”, repeatedly wounded the Constitution, he said, citing several decisions of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi when they held the office of Prime Minister.
Their next generation is also into the same game, he said in a swipe at the Leader of Opposition in the House Rahul Gandhi and his MP sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Modi said leaders like him and many others who came from ordinary families could never have reached where they did but for the strength of the Constitution, as he underlined his long commitment to its values.
As Chief Minister of Gujarat, he said, his Government celebrated the 60th year of the Constitution’s adoption by placing a copy of the document on an elephant while he walked underneath barefoot in a symbolic gesture to highlight its supremacy.
Slamming the Nehru-Gandhi family, he said first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru amended the country’s guiding document to curb freedom of expression and his daughter Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency to defy a Supreme Court judgment that annulled her election as an MP.
She “throttled India’s democracy and mutilated the Constitution” when the 25th year of its adoption was approaching, to save her chair as Prime Minister, he said, noting that she also effected an amendment to protect the president, vice president and herself from any legal challenge to their position with a retrospective effect.
The country was turned into jail and the judiciary was throttled, he said. Rajiv Gandhi, who took over as prime minister after his mother’s assassination, also amended the Constitution.
This blot on the Congress cannot be washed off, Modi asserted.
Without naming Rahul Gandhi, the Prime Minister said an “arrogant” person tore the decision of the Cabinet when the Congress-led UPA Government headed by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in power.
The National Advisory Council, which was headed by Sonia Gandhi, was put “above” the Cabinet during the UPA rule, he added.
While the makers of the Constitution took a considered decision to disallow reservation on the basis of religion and faith in the interest of the country’s unity and integrity, the Congress in its “greed for power” and to “appease its vote bank” pushed for it in violation of the constitutional spirit, he said.
Modi proposed 11 resolutions which include upholding existing reservations for marginalised sections but strongly opposing any religion-based quota.
Modi said the Constituent Assembly had decided against religion-based reservations after a thorough discussion, and alleged the Congress is now promising it to appease its vote bank.
The 11 resolutions proposed by Modi towards the end of his over 110-minute speech also included a call for an end to dynastic politics, promoting meritocracy over nepotism in governance and a pledge for having zero tolerance to corruption.
The Prime Minister said these resolutions are aimed at shaping India’s future.
