Never valued Constitution: PM Narendra Modi slams Congress for 2nd day

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, July 3

Facing repeated accusations from the Congress of planning to change the Constitution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today turned the tables on the opposition party as he said it, when in power, “was inherently disrespectful to the Constitution”.

The PM also broke his silence on the Manipur issue, claiming the state has had a history of ethnic clashes, following which President’s Rule was imposed in the state 10 times in the past. “The situation is now getting better and schools, colleges and other institutions are functioning normally,” he said.

Replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in the Rajya Sabha, PM Modi cited multiple instances of impropriety by the previous UPA governments and questioned the Congress’ allegiance to the Constitution.

The PM, who had highlighted the BJP’s commitment to the Constitution in his speech in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday as well, said the Constitution was “giving direction to his government as a lighthouse gave to ships sailing in a turbulent sea”.

“Who gave the National Advisory Council (NAC) the power to overrule the PM and compromise the PM’s office?”

Modi said, targeting the Congress for alleged improprieties during its rule.

“Who gave the power to a Congress MP to rip apart an ordinance approved by the Cabinet,” the PM asked, referring to the incident when Rahul Gandhi tore before the press an ordinance passed by the UPA government regarding the disqualification of convicted lawmakers. He also took a swipe at Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and said previous governments used to run in “autopilot” mode or via “remote control”.

Opposition MPs walked out of the Rajya Sabha in the middle of Modi’s speech to protest Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar’s refusal to allow Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s request to intervene during the PM’s speech. “The country is watching that those who spread lies do not have the strength to hear the truth. They are insulting the Upper House,” the PM said, commenting on the walkout.

Kharge told reporters later that he wanted to cite an old issue (May 6, 1950) of the RSS mouthpiece Organiser, which contained an editorial criticising the Constitution (newly adopted then) and demanding that the document must be based on “Manusmriti”. On the Manipur issue, the PM said over 500 persons had been arrested and 11,000 FIRs filed. He said the state was currently facing floods and two NDRF teams had been sent there.