New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will respond to the debate on the 75th anniversary of the Constitution in the Lok Sabha on Saturday. The debate itself will begin on Friday. The debate in the Rajya Sabha will begin take place over December 16 and 17. It will be initiated, and led, by Home Minister Amit Shah.
This session of Parliament, scheduled to end on December 20, has been marked by the usual clashes between the ruling party and the opposition, with each accusing the other of distracting voters.
The Congress has slammed the BJP for claiming links between ex-party chief Sonia Gandhi and businessman George Soros, while the BJP has been criticised over issues like the farmers’ protests.
Opposition parties had demanded discussions in both Houses to mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution. The opposition has also been targeting the ruling BJP over claims the third Modi government will look to alter the Constitution on fundamental level.
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These claims were among the major campaign issues raised by the Congress and other opposition parties ahead of the April-June federal election; the Congress has since attacked the BJP on this issue, with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra frequently waving red-bound copies of the Constitution at speeches to make their points. Both, in fact, took oaths as MP with a copy in their hands.
The BJP has, more than, once dismissed such claims.
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Mr Shah pointed out in May the first and second Modi governments could have done exactly that but did not; “We had the mandate to change the Constitution for 10 years but did it…”
The opposition’s red flags on this issue, however, were raised again after recent comments by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who told NDTV India, “People have looked at the Constitution with different views at different times… amendments have been made too…”
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Last month the Prime Minister ripped into opposition parties for spreading “propaganda” against his party-led government, declaring it was they who had “crushed” the spirit of the Constitution. “Those who see power as a birthright have not been in power at the Centre for the last decade,” he said.
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