How Constitution Day has reignited NDA-INDIA war over 'saving the Constitution'

Six months after the Opposition’s INDIA bloc inflicted heavy electoral losses on the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls with its ‘Save Constitution’ plank, the Magna Carta of India’s democracy has once again become the subject of a deeply polarised political debate.

The Narendra Modi government, which has stridently used its recent electoral triumphs in Maharashtra and Haryana to dub the INDIA bloc’s Samvidhaan Bachao pitch as a “fake narrative” now “rejected by the people”, scored more than a few political points over its rivals by marking the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution (November 26) with a special joint sitting of Parliament.

INDIA bloc demands 'discussion on Constitution'

Shortly after the session concluded, the INDIA bloc leaders made their counter-strike by writing to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding that two days of the ongoing winter session of Parliament be allocated for a “discussion on the Constitution”. A similar request, sources said, has been submitted to the office of the Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar too. The government as well as the presiding officers of the two Houses of Parliament have, so far, not responded to the demand.

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With regular sittings of the winter session set to re-convene today (November 27), the INDIA bloc’s insistence for a discussion on the Constitution could turn into yet another flashpoint between the Treasury and Opposition Benches and disrupt proceedings in both Houses of Parliament.

Though contrary to earlier reports Modi did not address Tuesday’s joint sitting of Parliament, there was no dearth of not-so-subtle jibes against the Opposition. Dhankhar, often accused by the Opposition of conducting Rajya Sabha proceedings with a brazen pro-government bias, made it a point to invoke the memory of the “darkest period” of the Emergency “when fundamental rights of the citizens were suspended, people were detained without any reason, and civil rights were violated”.

PM's tactical move

A short film released at the event ostensibly as a tribute to the Constitution and its framers was peppered liberally with footage of Modi, hailing the many “historic decisions” the Prime Minister had taken in the “last 10 years” to uphold the Constitution, while making no mention of what previous regimes, including NDA-1 of Atal Behari Vajpayee, had achieved on this front.

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Modi’s tactical move of not addressing the historic day and instead leaving it to President Droupadi Murmu to deliver the keynote address at the event was not lost on anyone. In doing so, the Prime Minister insulated himself from further attacks by the Opposition over undermining the authority of the first tribal woman to hold the country’s highest constitutional office; a charge that was levelled against him when he chose to inaugurate the new Parliament himself instead of leaving the honours to the President, under whose name and authority, sessions of Parliament are convened.

Moreover, by not speaking at the event, he also denied Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, Leaders of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, respectively, and the wider INDIA bloc leadership to pillory him on the charge of playing “petty politics”. Till a day earlier, when it was believed that the Prime Minister would also speak at the event, the INDIA bloc was busy slamming the Centre for not extending the same courtesy to the Leaders of Opposition.

'Double-edged sword'

The Prime Minister’s crafty manoeuvres may have prevented political rancour from souring a solemn occasion but there were clear signs that the war of words between the Centre and the INDIA bloc on who is a better custodian of the Constitution has been given a fresh lease of life.

Also read: Modi afraid of caste census, everyone demanding their share, says Kharge

Yet, given how the massive and unexpected poll victories in Maharashtra and Haryana have injected new aggression in the BJP, how the INDIA bloc, particularly the Congress, sustains its 'Save Constitution' tirade would be interesting to track.

Some INDIA bloc leaders told The Federal that the alliance’s demand for a discussion on the Constitution, if accepted by the Centre, could end up being a “double-edged sword”.

“Let us see how the Centre responds to it... for all you know, we may be walking straight into a trap. If the Centre agrees (for the discussion), you can be sure that Modi and the entire BJP brass will single out the Congress for the strongest attacks because of the Emergency and other actions taken during different Congress governments,” a senior Congress MP said.

'Strongest weapon against BJP'

An MP from the Samajwadi Party (SP) told The Federal that though the 'Save Constitution' pitch remained the “strongest weapon we have against the BJP”, the alliance’s senior leaders need to figure out how to “articulate it better so that it doesn’t begin to sound like we have nothing new to say”.

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The SP leader wondered if “handing Modi a chance to turn the tables on us is sound strategy”, adding, “We know how the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman let Modi and all BJP MPs have their way in Parliament... they say whatever they want while we are interrupted, cut short and repeatedly told to authenticate whatever we say in the House”.

Asserting that it would be better for the INDIA leaders to constantly engage with the people directly on the Constitution instead of seeking a discussion in Parliament, another Congress MP said, “What is the point of discussion when we know BJP will dig out dirt, exaggerate it 100 times and then invent some more – all those claims about how Nehru got Ambedkar defeated in the Lok Sabha elections; the number of times Congress PMs, especially Indira Gandhi, dismissed non-Congress governments and imposed President’s Rule, the Congress’s initial opposition to OBC reservations, Mandal Commission... do we really want that kind of a debate when we know that the moment our people speak, Treasury Benches will create a ruckus and the presiding officers will do nothing.”

The INDIA bloc constituents, however, agree that notwithstanding Congress’s poll setbacks in Maharashtra and Haryana, the offensive against the BJP’s perceived assaults on the Constitution mustn’t lose steam in the public space. The Congress is already planning a series of events to keep emphasising the 'Save Constitution' message while the Samajwadi Party, sources said, is planning to dial up its attacks on the BJP’s “atrocities on the PDA parivar (Pichde, Dalit, Alpsankhyak or backwards, Dalits and minorities) whose protection is the core of Babasaheb’s Constitution”.

Congress's ‘Samvidhaan Samman’ conferences

Hours after the joint sitting of Parliament concluded, Kharge and Rahul launched a fresh offensive against Modi and the BJP while addressing a ‘Samvidhaan Rakshak Abhiyan’ organised by the Congress party’s SC, ST and OBC wings at Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium. While the Rajya Sabha LoP asserted that the BJP and the RSS had “always been against Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution” and that the “only reason the Constitution is safe right now is because the people of the country did not give a majority” to the BJP in the June Lok Sabha polls, his Lok Sabha counterpart made a direct attack at the Prime Minister claiming “Modi has not read the Constitution; had he read it, he wouldn’t be doing the things he does”.

Over the next three months, the Congress’s SC, ST and OBC departments plan to conduct a campaign of enrolling Samvidhaan Rakshaks (protectors of the Constitution) who will “visit as many towns, villages and households across the country as possible to tell, educate about their rights given by the Constitution and how these are being trampled upon by the BJP”, Congress’s SC department chief Rajesh Lilothia said.

The Congress also plans to continue organising a series of ‘Samvidhaan Samman’ conferences across the country, with Rahul being a regular speaker at these events, to “create awareness about the Constitution and expose the BJP’s direct and indirect assaults on the Constitution”, a Dalit scholar working closely with the Congress on the roadmap for these conferences told The Federal.