Sonia Gandhi lashes out at PM's Constitution dig over emergency remarks

While the first session of Parliament was marked by heated exchanges between government and opposition over vice-president's post and the NEET issue, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said it showed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “values ​​confrontation” even as he preaches the “value of consensus”.

In an editorial in The Hindu, Sonia Gandhi said that Prime Minister Modi has not yet accepted the Lok Sabha Poll Results which saw the NDA return to power with a weaker mandate.

“The prime minister is carrying on as if nothing has happened. He preaches the value of consensus but continues to value confrontation,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

“The first few days of the 18th Lok Sabha have unfortunately been far from encouraging. Any hope of seeing a change in attitude has been dashed,” she added.

The Congress Parliamentary Party president said the post of Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha should have been given to the Opposition as per convention.

“This perfectly reasonable demand was found unacceptable by a regime which had not held the constitutional post of Deputy Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha,” she said.

While the AIADMK's M Thambi Durai, then an ally of the BJP, was vice-president during the first term of the NDA government, the post was vacant between 2019 and 2024.

EMERGENCY

As BJP goes on the offensive against Congress in rake up the emergencySonia Gandhi said the issue was raised by the Prime Minister to divert attention from the attack on the Constitution.

Gandhi said it was “astonishing” that this issue was raised even by the Speaker of the House, “whose position is incompatible with any public policy stance other than that of strict impartiality”.

“It is a historical fact that in March 1977, the people of our country gave a categorical verdict on the Emergency, which was accepted without hesitation and unequivocally. Less than three years later, the party humiliated in March 1977 was re-elected. The coming to power, with a majority never before obtained by Modi and his party, is also an integral part of this history,” she said.

The state of emergency was also invoked by the president and vice president during their speech to a joint session of parliament, where they called it “the darkest chapter” and a “direct attack on the constitution.”

ON NEET PAPER LEAK

Lashing out at Prime Minister Modi for remaining silent on the NEET paper leak case, Sonia Gandhi said the scandal has wreaked havoc in the lives of thousands of young people.

“The Prime Minister who is doing his 'Pariksha pe Charcha' has remained conspicuously silent on the leaks that have devastated so many families across the country,” she said.

The Congress MP pointed out that the “professionalism” of educational institutions such as the National Council for Educational Research and Training, the University Grants Commission and universities has been “deeply damaged” in the last ten years.

ON ETHNIC VIOLENCE IN MANIPUR

The former Congress leader also attacked the prime minister for not visiting strife-torn Manipur since ethnic clashes erupted in the state in May 2023.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands displaced due to clashes between the Kuki and Meitei communities.

“Social harmony in this highly sensitive state has been broken. Yet the Prime Minister found neither the time nor the inclination to visit the state or meet its political leaders,” Gandhi wrote.

BJP AGAINST AND INDIA'S ALLIES REACT

Reacting to Sonia Gandhi's editorial, BJP leader and former Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi attacked the Congress MP for her “arrogance” and said she should look into her family's past before attacking Prime Minister Modi.

However, Sonia Gandhi found support from her allies in the INDIA bloc, the RJD and Shive Sena (UBT).

RJD MP Manoj Jha said the Congress leader had shown the mirror to the government. “Even today there is a state of emergency in the country,” Mr. Jha said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also criticised the Prime Minister, saying the Lok Sabha result was Modi's “personal defeat”.

“This same Modi was talking about crossing the 400 mark alone… he was calling Rahul Gandhi a prince. But the prince defeated you. Now you are in power only by doing jugaad,” Raut said.