NEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misleading the country by “twisting facts” about Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s letter on reservation to states and demanded an apology.
Participating in a discussion on ‘Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India’ in the Upper House, Kharge also accused the BJP leaders of indulging in ‘bhakti’ of Prime Minister Modi, asserting that it was leading the country towards dictatorship.
The Congress President cited Modi’s speech in which he had said there was no elected government between 1947 and 1952 and the Congress had illegally amended the Constitution.
Kharge said the first amendment was carried out by the Constituent Assembly members, which included Syama Prasad Mookerjee, and was undertaken to provide reservation to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, fix problems related to education and employment, and abolish the Zamindari system.
“I want to inform the House that the Supreme Court had rejected Madras state’s decision on reservation.”
He said that the other aspect of this amendment was to stop communal propaganda, and Sardar Patel, in a letter on July 3, 1950, had suggested to Nehru that a constitutional amendment was the only remedy for this problem.
“Therefore, Nehru wrote a letter to chief ministers. This has been mentioned in the PM’s speech after twisting facts to defame Nehru, for which he should apologise to the nation. This is my demand. If you twist the facts before the nation and attempt to defame, then you should apologise in this House and the other House and before the people of this country,” Kharge said.
He said the prime minister lives in the past, not in the present, and it would have been better had he listed present achievements that strengthened democracy.
He said erstwhile leaders of RSS were against the Constitution.
“In 1949, the entire country knew that RSS leaders opposed the Constitution because it was not based on Manusmriti. RSS mouthpiece Organiser in the edition of November 30, 1949, had written about it, “he said.
Kharge said that it is clear from debates of the Constituent Assembly that erstwhile leaders of the RSS were against the Constitution.
“Those who hated the flag, Ashok Chakra, and the Constitution are today giving lessons to us on the Constitution.”
Kharge said that even when many powerful countries were not practicing universal adult franchise, women and all sections of societies in India were given the right to vote during the Congress regime through the Constitution.
He said that government leaders cut and paste information and present it as per their convenience to twist facts.
“Those who did not fight for the country, how will they know the importance of freedom and the Constitution?” Kharge asked.
BJP has been giving ‘jumlas’ and befooling people of the country and questioned promises made by Modi to pay Rs 15 lakh, he said, adding people are still waiting for the money as well as two crore jobs and doubling of farmers’ income.
Kharge said that the BJP is against reservation and that is why the party is against caste census.
He further said the Congress government will implement women’s reservation faster than the BJP.
Kharge also raised the issue of Manipur, which has been suffering from ethnic violence for the last one-and-a-half years. He said that the prime minister travels everywhere but has no time to visit the strife-torn state.
