NEW DELHI : The BJP today hit out at the Congress for its attacks on the issue of intolerance, reminding the grand old party of the suspension of the Right to Life and Liberty given under Article 21 of the Constitution during the Emergency imposed.
”The suspension of this Article was the dictatorship at its worst. And today, we take some irresponsible remarks made by some people on TV as instances of intolerance, Leader of the House Arun Jaitley said in the Rajya Sabha, intitiating the debate on the ‘Commitment to the Constitution’ as part of 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Dr B R Ambedkar.
The original Constitution had provided that these rights could be suspended if the country was faced with some grave crisis, but the country paid a great price for this provision, he said, adding that it was because of this reason that under the Morarji Desai led Janata Party government that the Constitution was amended to make the Right to Life and Liberty inviolable.
Mr Jaitley also accused the successive Congress governments during the first 40 years of their rule at the Centre of weakening federalism by frequent misuse of Article 356.
He said thanks to the emergence of strong regional parties, independent judiciary, the threat to federalism had gradually phased out.
He also disputed the Congress interpretation of the word ‘secularism’, saying that the Constitution was not anti-religion but anti-theocracy.
Mr Jaitley also praised the role of the Election Commission in strengthening the democratic process. He also used the occasion to attack the collegium system of appointing judges as against the intent of the Constitution makers.
The Constitution says that the President will appoint the judges in consultation with the Chief Justice of India, ”but today we have reached a state of affairs when the CJI and its collegium was appointing judges. (AGENCIES)
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