Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Rajya Sabha on Tuesday Photo: X/PTI Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Rajya Sabha on Tuesday Photo: X/PTI

Taking aprt in a two-day-long dabte on the "Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India" in the Rajya Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Congress over bringing various amendments to the Constitution.

While concluding the debate on Tuesday, the union minister mentioned that the grand old Congress party considered it as the "private fiefdom" of one family and amended it to remain in power while also accusing the key opposition party of being anti-reservation and said it never worked for the benefit of the backward classes.

"The Congress considered the Constitution as 'private fiefdom' of one family and deceived Parliament," Shah said.

"Our Constitution does not accept three things because in a democracy, there should be no dynastic politics, the nation should be secular, and there should be no appeasement, and because of this, corruption should not exist. I often feel that the Congress party does not respect the Constitution, and when I read these three words, I realised that if they respect the spirit of the Constitution, they will have to abandon appeasement, dynastic politics, and corruption. Without doing so, their existence cannot survive," Shah further added.

VIDEO | "Our Constitution does not accept three things because in a democracy, there should be no dynastic politics, the nation should be secular, and there should be no appeasement, and because of this, corruption should not exist. I often feel that the Congress party does not… pic.twitter.com/y9XtNmez5h

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 17, 2024

In a veiled attack aimed at Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Shah said, “Congress lost as people found they were carrying fake copies of Constitution.The 54-year-old leader who calls himself 'yuva', keeps roaming around with the Constitution claiming that we would change the Constitution. I want to tell that the provision to amend the Constitution is within the Constitution.”

ALSO READ | JP Nadda Slams Congress Over Constitution, Emergency And Article 370 in Rajya Sabha Debate

Reiterating the EVM tampering allegation levelled by the Congress party after poll defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra, the minister also chided the Congress for "finding faults" in EVMs after losing elections.

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At the outset, he noted that the Constitution strengthened the roots of democracy and the transfer of power happens without shedding even a drop of blood.

Listing several amendments made to the Constitution by the Congress, Shah claimed the party did so for its own benefit. Even before the first elections in the country, Jawaharlal Nehru effected the first Constitutional amendment to curtail the freedom of expression, he claimed.

ALSO READ | Parliament Session: Nirmala Sitharaman Slams Congress-Nehru Amid Constitution Debate; Kharge Hits Back

Earlier today, Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha and BJP President J P Nadda on Tuesday launched a scathing critique of the Congress and its legacy, particularly in relation to the Indian Constitution, the Emergency of 1975, and Article 370, during a discussion on the “Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India.”

Nadda, addressing the House, emphasized the importance of having a good Constitution, but warned that its effectiveness depends on those who implement it. Quoting Dr B R Ambedkar, Nadda asserted, “However good a Constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad.” He further stated that “the bad lot has interfered with the Constitution many times,” alluding to the Congress party’s role in controversial constitutional amendments and decisions.

A day before, kicking off the debate session in Rajya Sabha, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has accused the Congress party for curbing freedom of speech after adopting the Constitution in 1950.

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Addressing the upper house, Sitharaman added that the Indian constitution has "stood the test of time".

“Today we are extremely proud of the way India’s democracy is growing. As the country marks the 75th year of its Constitution, it is time to reaffirm our commitment to build India, that is Bharat, that shall uphold the spirit enshrined in this sacred document,” Sitharaman said.

“In the last seven decades, this living document, our Constitution, has seen many amendments,” she said, alleging that the first amendment under Nehru’s interim government “curbed the freedom of speech”.

"The Supreme Court in 1950 had ruled in favour of the Communist magazine “Cross Roads” and the RSS organisational magazine “Organizer”. But in responselucky7, the (then) interim government thought that there was a need for a first Constitutional amendment and that was brought in by the Indian National Congress (INC) and it was essentially to curb the freedom. So India, a democratic country which prides itself even today on freedom of expression saw the first interim government coming up with a Constitutional amendment which was to curb the freedom of speech of Indians and that within one year of adoption of the Constitution," the finance minister added.

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