Sunday, 22 December 2024
Sunday, 22 December 2024
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi pitched the Constitution against the Manusmriti in his speech in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the concluding day of the discussion on the 75 years of the Constitution of India.
The Rae Bareli MP, who has made a practice of carrying a copy of the Constitution with him, referred to his meeting with the family of a gang-rape victim in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras.
“The accused are roaming scot-free while the victim’s family have to keep themselves locked behind doors. They cannot step out of their homes, every time they do so, they are threatened. The family was not even allowed to perform her last rites. Where is this written in the Constitution that the rapists will move freely? Show it to me,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“This is written in Manusmriti, not the Constitution of India. Uttar Pradesh [government] does not follow the Constitution, but Manusmriti.”
Rahul had started his 15-minute speech directly attacking the Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
“Their supreme leader had said, the worst thing about the Constitution of India is that there is nothing Indian about it. Manusmriti is most worship-able after the Vedas and Upanishad. This book has for centuries codified the divine march of our nation. These are the words of Savarkar. He has clearly stated the book India is run by [the Constitution] should be replaced by this [Manusmriti],” Rahul said.
Citing the riots in UP’s Sambhal, where a court ordered survey of a centuries-old mosque left four people dead, Rahul said: “The Constitution prohibits discrimination on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth. You spread hate, you stoke the communal flame; in which Constitution is this written?"
He indicated towards the Treasury bench members – Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh were not in their seats while the Leader of Opposition spoke – and said it was nice to see them defending the Constitution.
“But, every time you do so you are defaming, ridiculing Savarkar. This side are the defendants of the idea of the Constitution. We have representatives from every state. In Tamil Nadu there is Periyar, Basavanna from Karnataka, Phule and Ambedkar from Maharashtra, Mahatma Gandhi from Gujarat. You praise these people hesitatingly because you have to. You want India to be run by the way it was run earlier.”
Diving into the Mahabharat, Rahul narrated the oft-retold story of the tribal boy Ekalavya who had to chop off his right thumb as an offering to the archery teacher Dronacharya.
Rahul rolled out a list of people from various backgrounds, equating them with Ekalavya who was discriminated against for being born a tribal – outside the Varna system. As he spoke, he held out a palm with the thumb hidden.
“When you give Dharavi to Adani, you cut the thumb of the medium- and small-scale entrepreneurs. When you launch Agniveer, you cut the thumb of India’s youth. When you hand over ports, airports and defence contracts to Adani, you cut the thumb of those involved in fair business practices,” he said.
“You cut the thumbs of the backward classes when you allow lateral entry [in government jobs],” he added.
“There have been 70 instances of paper leak, each time the students’ thumbs were chopped. By stopping the farmers outside the border of Delhi, by hurling teargas shells and lathicharge, you have cut the thumbs of the farmers. By snatching forest lands you have hurt the tribals,” he said.
At this point Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla interjected and asked Rahul to speak within the garima (boundaries) of the Constitution. To which Rahul replied: “The word monopoly is not written in the Constitution. Question paper leaks and Agniveer are not written in the Constitution that is why I am speaking on these [issues].”
The Leader of the Opposition promised on the floor of the House that the caste census and the 50 per cent reservation would be implemented in the country.
“We want the caste census to find out which sections of the people had their thumbs cut off. Ambedkar had said without social and financial equality there can be no political equality. All institutions have been captured. There is no political, social and financial equality in the country,” Rahul said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will conclude the session with his speech around 5pm.
