Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday flayed the Narendra Modi government on the issue of intolerance during a debate in the Lok Sabha, saying that ideals and principles enshrined in the Indian constitution were "deliberately attacked".
On the other hand Home Minister Rajnath Singh attacked the Opposition, particularly the Congress, on the meaning and interpretation of the word 'secularism'. The intense debate saw both sides in a combative mood with Sonia often getting the upper hand.
Initiating the discussion on 'Commitment to India's Constitution as part of 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar, architect of the Indian Constitution, the Home Minister said the latter had not wanted the word 'secularism' in the Preamble which was incorporated through an amendment in 1976.
"The words 'socialist' and 'secular' were incorporated in the Preamble through the 42nd amendment of the Constitution. We have no objection. Let bygone be bygone. B R Ambedkar had never thought the necessity to incorporate it in the Preamble as these two words were part of the Constitution. It is inbuilt in the Indian system," he said amidst protests from Congress.
Sonia, in her speech, counterattacked but stating that "People who have no faith in constitution, who have not contributed to its making, are talking about it repeatedly; want to appropriate it; are today debating commitment towards it... what can be a bigger joke than this," Sonia Gandhi said.
"Whatever we have seen for the past few months, it is against the values enshrined in the constitution. The principles and ideals that have inspired us for decades, a danger is lurking over them today. They are being deliberately attacked," she said during the debate on commitment to India's constitution.
She said Ambedkar had cautioned that however good a constitution, if those who implement it were bad, it would turn out to be bad. The Congress president spoke of Ambedkar's role in the making of the constitution and recalled his words praising Congress contribution in the process.
"It was the discipline of the Congress that enabled the drafting committee to give definitive information about every clause and amendment before the constituent assembly," Gandhi quoted Ambedkar as saying.
The Congress chief said: "It was the Congress which brought Ambedkar to the Constituent Assembly, recognising his unique talent and capability."
As BJP members made some remarks, Gandhi quipped: "This is history. Do you have objection?"
Gandhi said Ambedkar plunged himself in the freedom struggle for the cause of the scheduled castes and the oppressed after his education abroad in political theory and economy.
Referring to Ambedkar's humility, she said he had expressed surprise on being chosen as the drafting committee chairman by saying there were more learned and better people than him in the Constituent Assembly.
She said that on the morning of November 26, 1949, when the draft constitution was formally adopted, former president Rajendra Prasad, who was then chairman of the Constituent Assembly, complimented Ambedkar.
There could not have been a better decision than keeping him in the drafting committee and making him its chairman, she quoted Rajendra Prasad as saying.
Sonia Gandhi also recalled the contribution of independent India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, saying he was among the four stalwarts who guided the proceedings of the constituent assembly.
