On day two of the session on Friday, all eyes will be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is expected to intervene in Lok Sabha in the debate on Constitution. He is also expected to speak on the issue of intolerance.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley initiated the discussion in Rajya Sabha on Friday. Here are the highlights from the proceedings:
Ghulam Nabi Azad: The BJP has come into politics for power.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: Congress does not indulge in hatred. It is not our ideology.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: Power is like a tree laden with fruits which should bend, instead the government is looking towards the sky.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: The intolerance is being manufactured by the government itself. If at the top, the government cannot tolerance, it is obvious that it will have a trickling effect in the country.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: The atmosphere in the country in last one-and-a-half year is against the Constitution of India.
So you can talk of Nazi Germany in your constitution speech but we can’t talk of Nehru ji?: Ghulam Nabi Azad to FM Jaitley
Arun Jaitley mocks Congress, says “we are celebrating the 125th anniversary of Dr Ambedkar, why is there a grudging feeling in the leader of Opposition. Why are they questioning why we did not make a mention of Pt Nehru?”
You (BJP) are trying to rewrite history, we are all aware of this: Azad in RS
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) November 27, 2015
Ghulam Nabi Azad: From where did the November 26 date come to celebrate Constitution Day. It is neither Independence Day nor Republic Day
Ghulam Nabi Azad: Preamble starts with Pandit Nehru’s ‘objectives’ and you are not taking his name? This is what is called intolerance
Ghulam Nabi Azad: This is intolerance, that we are not able to recognize the contribution of the first PM of India
Ghulam Nabi Azad: Nehru, Subash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel are being pitted against each other even though they aren’t alive
Ghulam Nabi Azad: BJP has no leader of their own in history. All leaders are of the Congress.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: BJP is still following the policy of the Britishers to ‘divide and rule’.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: Jaitley spoke of Hitler in his speech just with an aim to hit at some parties.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: Dr Ambedkar felt strongly about equal rights for women, family planning, social development.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: BR Ambedkar was one of the most educated amongst all our leaders during that time
Ghulam Nabi Azad: After Mahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar was the biggest social reformer of the country
Ghulam Nabi Azad: It is evident that the government wants to score brownie points by making such attacks
Ghulam Nabi Azad: Our leaders who spent their lives in jails during the freedom struggle, do not need to prove their commitment towards the country. The ones who were not part of it, need to prove it.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: Jaitley tried to use Ambedkar’s words as a shield to make attacks in Parliament.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad responds to Jaitley’s speech on Constitution.
Arun Jaitley concludes his speech by saying government will work towards building the country on the ideals that were formed in the Constitution in 1949.
Arun Jaitley: Nobody in this country is ought to be seen soft on terrorism. I’m just quoting Dr Ambedkar, not pointing fingers.
Anand Sharma asks Jaitley to be clear about what he means when he says some people are trying to damage the sovereignty of the country.
Arun Jaitley quotes Ambedkar, says “will India be able to maintain her independence or will she lose it again.” He also quotes Ambedkar where the raised his fears of India losing her independence by the treachery of “our own people.”
Arun Jaitley: We need to confront the challenge of terrorism. When convicts in terror attacks were being punished, some portrayed them as martyrs.
Arun Jaitley: Sometimes for vote bank politics, we hesitate in criticizing how much we should.
Arun Jaitley: Article 15 gave special rights to SC, ST and socially-educationally backward and we respect those rights.
Arun Jaitley: 65 years after framing the Constitution, are we ready to say all personal laws are compliant with it?
Sitaram Yechury intervenes, asks why pick and choose, why not see if other Articles like 43, 45, have been followed.
Arun Jaitley: Had we been sitting here as a constituent assembly and Dr Ambedkar would have proposed the Article 44 of the Constitution, how would the house have reacted today? What if he had proposed Article 48 of the Constitution today?
Arun Jaitley: Every man has a right to practice his choice of religion he wants to adopt. The Constitution was not against a particular religion but stated that the state will not discriminate on the basis of religion.
Arun Jaitley: The concept of affirmative action was not about creating a preferred class. The Constitution said everyone should be treated equally, but those who are socially backward, they should be given special preferences.
Arun Jaitley: Dr Ambedkar, while referring to judges” appointment, framed Constitution in a way that the President appoints judges of India.
Arun Jaitley: Judiciary cannot assume powers of the legislative.
Arun Jaitley: Judicial activism threatening dilution of powers of judiciary, executive and legislature. If there is a dilution of powers, it is not coming from either the state or central govts, in fact what started as a positive note as activism by court, at times crosses the ‘lakshman rekha’.
Arun Jaitley: How many times in the first 40 years when there was a one party rule in the country, was Article 356 imposed.
Arun Jaitley: It is about time that we understand that short term vision in dealing with Constitution is not beneficial. I urge you to ponder as part of transient economic thinking.
Jaitley refers to Emergency, says it was a time when the right to live and express was taken away
Arun Jaitley: Today even an irresponsible statement is treated as intolerance and back in 1970s, even the freedom of life was taken away from people by the then government.
Arun Jaitley: During the 1970s one of the biggest challenges we faced that the Article 21 was suspended. It was dictatorship at its worst.
Arun Jaitley: We need to strengthen our Constitution by holding debates and discussions
Arun Jaitley: Dr Ambedkar is not just the architect of our Constitution but also a social reformer
Arun Jaitley: Ambedkar fought against social evils in India. He firmly believed in democracy. The fact that India’s democracy has survived shows the strength of our constitution.