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Sonia targets government, says constitutional principles attacked

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Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday targeted the Narendra Modi government during a debate in parliament, saying that the principles that inspired the country for decades were being “deliberately attacked”.

In her speech in the Lok Sabha, Sonia Gandhi spoke of the contribution of B.R. Ambedkar to the making of the constitution and also recalled his words praising the contribution of the Congress to the process of its adoption.

Attacking the Modi government during the debate on commitment to India’s constitution, she said: “Whatever we have seen for the past few months, it is against the values of constitution.”

“Today is a day of happiness but there is also pain. The principles that inspired (us) for decades, a danger is lurking over them. They are being deliberately attacked,” she said.

“The people who have no faith in constitution, who have not contributed to its making, they are talking about it repeatedly, are trying to appropriate it. There cannot be a bigger joke,” she added.

The Congress has for the past some months persistently attacked the Modi government over “rising intolerance”.

The house on Thursday took up discussion on commitment to India’s Constitution as part of 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Ambedkar, regarded as the chief architect of the constitution.

The day is also being observed as the Constitution Day, commemorating the acceptance of draft statute on this day in 1949.

(Agencies)

Nepal passes secular constitution amid protests

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President announces adoption of the charter despite protests against plans to divide the country into seven provinces.

nepal constitution

by Al Jazeera

Nepal has adopted a new constitution aimed at bolstering its transformation from a Hindu monarchy to a secular democracy, as violent protests raged against some of the terms of the charter.

Firecrackers went off on Sunday in celebration in Kathmandu as President Ram Baran Yadav announced the adoption of the constitution, the first to be drafted by elected representatives.

“I announce the presented constitution of Nepal, passed by the Constituent Assembly and authenticated by the chairman of the Constituent Assembly, effective from today, 20 September 2015, before the people of Nepal,” he said.

Members of the parliament approved the charter on Wednesday despite weeks of violent protests against plans to divide the Himalayan nation of 28 million people into seven provinces.

More than 40 people have been killed in clashes between protesters and police, among them two children, and a police officer lynched as he was driven to hospital in an ambulance, according to the AFP news agency.

One protester was killed on Sunday when police fired into a crowd of people who had defied a curfew in the southern district of Parsa to demonstrate against the charter.

Criticism

The move to create a new federal structure that will devolve power from the centre has widespread support, but critics say the planned internal borders will leave some historically marginalised groups under-represented in parliament.

They include the Madhesi and Tharu ethnic minorities, mainly from Nepal’s southern plains along the border with India.

India has expressed concern at the violence, which has seen some parts of southern Nepal shut down for weeks.

The new constitution is the final stage in a peace process that began when the Maoists laid down their arms in 2006 after a decade-long civil war with the state and turned to politics, winning parliamentary elections two years later and abolishing the monarchy.

Original preamble of Constitution did not have 'secular', 'socialist': I&B Minister

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preamble-india

New Delhi: The original preamble of the Constitution did not have the words “socialist” and “secular”, said Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Wednesday.

The government has been criticised over a Republic Day advertisement, which showed the preamble without the two words.

The minister said a picture of the original preamble was used for the advertisement to “honour” it.

He also tweeted pictures of the preamble before and after the 42nd Amendment, which added the words “secular” and “socialist” to it. “This is the original preamble. The words ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ were added in 1976,” he added.

“Let me assure you, we are celebrating the 66th Republic Day, that is, we are celebrating an anniversary of the preamble that was made way back then,” Rathore told reporters.

“The photograph that we have put is of the first preamble that our great leaders had made at that point of time,” Rathore said.

He added that the two words were included after the 42nd Constitutional Amendment in 1976.

Rathore’s comments came after row erupted when an advertisement issued by the I&B Ministry carried a picture of the Preamble to the Constitution as it appeared before the 42nd Amendment, without the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’.

Welcoming the move, Shiv Sena has demanded “permanent deletion” of the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Constitution.

“We welcome the exclusion of the (secular and socialist) words from the Republic Day advertisement. Though it might have been done inadvertently, it is like honouring the feelings of the people of India. If these words were deleted by mistake this time, they should be deleted from the Constitution permanently,” Sena MP Sanjay Raut said.

Congress leader Manish Tewari attacked the Centre on the issue, claiming the government advertisement “deleted” the two words, which was only a prelude to their “substitution” with “communal” and “corporate”.

The advertisement showed a picture of the Preamble in the background with a quote from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and pictures of some citizens in the foreground.

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