Union minister Amit Shah on Tuesday addressed the Rajya Sabha during a discussion on the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of India. He said that both BJP and the Congress had made the amendments to the Constitution during their reign.
During his speech, Amit Shah launched a veiled attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said that a “54-year-old leader who calls himself yuva, keeps roaming around with the Constitution claiming that we would change the Constitution.” He clarified that the amendments in Constitution is itself provided by the Constitution.
The home minister further said that in the past 16 years of rule, BJP made 22 Constitutional amendments while Congress made 77 tweaks in 55 years. He also slammed Congress for finding faults in the election whenever they lose.
Here are top quotes from Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha
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- “The debates that happened in both Houses of the Parliament will be educational for the youth of the country… It will also help the people of the country to understand which party has honoured the Constitution and which has not… I thank Sardar Patel as it is because of his struggle that the nation is standing strong in front of the world… “
- “In the last 75 years, there have been many nations nation that became independent and had new beginnings but democracy did not succeed there. But our democracy is deep-rooted. We made numerous changes without shedding a drop of blood. The people of this country have shattered the arrogance of multiple dictators and that too democratically”
- “… The people of our country and our Constitution have given a befitting reply to those who said that we would never be able to become economically independent… Today we are the 5th largest economy… We have left Britain behind…”
- “In our Constitution, the Constitution has never been considered immutable… Article 368 has a provision to amend the Constitution… The 54-year-old leader who calls himself ‘yuva’, keeps roaming around with the Constitution claiming that we would change the Constitution. I want to tell that the provision to amend the Constitution is within the Constitution… BJP has ruled for 16 years and we made 22 changes to the Constitution… Congress ruled for 55 years and made 77 changes.”
- The first amendment was made on June 18, 1951… After the formation of the Constitution, Congress did not have enough patience to wait for the Lok Sabha elections before going to power… Article 19 A was added to curtail the freedom of speech… And Jawahar Lal Nehru was the Prime Minister at that time
- After a long battle for Independence, when we were freed, many political pundits of the world had made predictions that this country will fall apart. Some people had predicted that democratic values and unity are not possible here, and that this country will never be economically self-reliant. Today, when we look back after 75 years, it is because of the hard word of Sardar Sahab (Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel) that this country stands strongly…”
