Nadda attacks Congress over Emergency, Article 370 in RS

Union health minister and leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha JP Nadda on Tuesday targeted the Congress, citing Article 370 as an illustration of its attempts to alter the Constitution of India, and said the “good lot” —referring to the NDA government — abrogated the article to allow the full integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the country.

The “good lot” was drawn from BR Ambedkar’s comment that said “however good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it happens to be a bad lot. However bad a Constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work it happen to be a good lot.”

Taking part in a discussion on 75 years of the Constitution, Nadda, who is also the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, said that despite then law minister BR Ambedkar’s clear position that Article 370 — which granted special status to J&K — was “treacherous” and against the interest of India, then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave it a go ahead.

“Article 370 came and it was the Jana Sangh that rose in protest and said ek desh mein do nishan, do pradhan aur do vidhan nahin challenge… Syama Prasad Mookerjee sacrificed his life in a prison in J&K,” he said.

Owing to Article 370, which was abrogated in 2019, at least 106 central laws were not applicable in the erstwhile state of J&K, reservation benefits were denied to tribals, and refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) were denied the rights to vote and contest local body and assembly elections.

“This country has had two PMs Manmohan Singh and IK Gujral and one deputy PM LK Advani who were refugees from west Pakistan, but in J&K people from PoK were not allowed to contest panchayat elections,” he said.

Referring to his party-led government as the “good lot”, he said: “After the bad lot, we got the good lot. On August 5, 2019, we abrogated Article 370… I once again congratulate the PM. Because of his wisdom, Jammu and Kashmir is an inseparable part of India now.”

The BJP chief further slammed the Congress for imposing Emergency in 1975, saying it was not to protect the country, but for saving then PM Indira Gandhi’s chair.

“Why was the Emergency imposed… there was no khatra (danger) to the desh (country) but to the kursi (chair)…the whole country was plunged into darkness,” he said.

Taking a swipe at the Congress, Nadda said the opposition party should join the event to mark the 50th anniversary of the imposition of Emergency on June 25 next year.

“It will be 50 years next year since the Emergency was imposed. We will observe anti-democracy day. Indian National Congress should join in and appeal to the people that for 50 years, there was an evil attempt to strangle democracy during the Emergency...”

The health minister also attacked the Congress for inclusion of words “secular” and “socialist” in the Preamble, saying the framers of the Constitution did not feel the need to add these as the spirit of these terms was considered ensconced in the document.

Ambedkar, he said, was against the use of socialist because he felt it would go against the grain of democracy to decide what sort of a society Indians would want.

Citing another example of how the Constitution was not respected during the Congress rule, Nadda made a reference to how elected governments were suspended using Article 356, which allows for the imposition of the President’s rule on any state of the country on the grounds of the failure of the “constitutional machinery”.

“Article 356 was used eight times by Nehru, 50 times by Indira Gandhi, nine times by Rajiv Gandhi and 10 times by Manmohan Singh,” Nadda said.

He also questioned why triple talaq, which is not allowed in Islamic countries, was not outlawed in India and slammed the Congress for alleging that the BJP was not progressive.

Nadda also mentioned about diplomatic and military lapses during Nehru’s tenure. He accused Nehru of “neglecting defence preparations, including border security” and of being “diplomatically naive”.

Making a reference to the 1962 India-China war, Nadda said the neighbouring country not only grabbed 38,000 sq km of Indian territory but also came in possession of large parts through transfer from Pakistan.

He also made a mention of the transfer of control of Coco Islands to Myanmar and Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka as diplomatic gaffes by the Congress.

Referring to the Constitution and the process of drafting the document he said, “The makers of the constitution were aware that this is not a nation in the making; it was already a nation. This nation was based on our culture, our ethos; that’s why the debates of the constituent assembly mention our culture and history…terms like ‘Sabha’, ‘Samiti, and ‘Sansad’ are mentioned in the manuscripts and Vedas,” he said.