Only six months ago, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party managed to scare the seemingly invincible BJP into the Lok Sabha elections by presenting a narrative centered around the Constitution. But much has changed politically since then and for the next few days, the constitution will be the subject of debate and discussion in Parliament from Friday, with Congress leader and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra likely to open it for the opposition.
Playing on the BJP’s ambitious “ab ki baar, 400 par (this time, more than 400 seats)” slogan, the Congress managed to convince certain sections, especially Dalits and Scheduled Tribes (STs), that such a large majority could pose a threat. Consequent to changes in constitution and reservation structure. The Constitution was front and center in the Congress’ Lok Sabha campaign.
The old party believes that his campaign had some appeal and was instrumental in pushing the BJP below 272 points. Since then, Rahul Gandhi has never stopped flaunting his pocket-sized red constitution. He has always relied on the power of repetition, be it the Rafale fighter jet issue in 2019 or Gautam Adani and crony capitalism allegations. And the current constitution and social justice.
The BJP, on the other hand, bolstered the Congress campaign with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself repeatedly asserting the Constitution as the guiding light of his government – in his words the Gita, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bible and the Koran for government. Successive Congress governments have violated the Constitution by their actions.
Six months after the Constitution became the focal point of the election campaign, the grand platform of the Parliament is expected to clash over the Constitution once again during the debate on the Constitution by the ruling BJP and Congress-led Indian factions. 75 years since its adoption. Debates will be held in the Lok Sabha on Friday and Saturday and in the Rajya Sabha next week. Prime Minister Modi will respond to the debate in the Lok Sabha on Saturday evening.
A lot of political water has flown under the bridge since June 4, when the Lok Sabha election results gave a boost to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress went into assembly elections in four major states with a Lok Sabha election pattern but it backfired spectacularly. The BJP made a remarkable resurgence and comeback in Haryana and Maharashtra, two states where the Congress and Bharat Bloc managed to put the BJP on the back foot in the Lok Sabha elections.
But Congress strategists believe that the party should link the issue of “threat to the constitution” with the social justice framework. The party hopes that the narrative of not working effectively in the Maharashtra and Haryana elections will give it a shot in the arm with these debates in Parliament. Sources said that the party has decided to nominate Priyanka Gandhi to open debate from the opposition. If it happens, it It will be his first speech in Parliament. So will Priyanka reshape the Congress narrative, adding more elements to it, or largely follow the Rahul line?
The Congress has always been accusing the Modi government of trampling the constitutional institutions and violating the spirit of the constitution. The party is believed to be able to score a political point or two over the BJP.
On behalf of the government, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will initiate the debate in the Lok Sabha, while Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to do the same in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP has also decided to nominate several ministers to counter the opposition allegations.
The BJP has always responded to Congress’ allegations by pointing to the conduct of its post-independence governments. In the past, the Prime Minister himself has accused the Congress of trampling on the rights of provincial and regional parties by ‘misusing’ Article 356 of the Constitution and dismissing the elected government ’90 times’.
Modi and the BJP have repeatedly spoken of the “dark days of the Emergency” and pointed to the Rajiv Gandhi government’s attempts to curb press freedom to argue that the Congress has no right to talk about the Constitution. speech
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