Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on the Congress party over its stand on the issues of reservation for Other Backward Classes, the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), and the Muslim Personal Law, among others, in the ongoing Parliament's Winter session in Rajya Sabha.
The Union Minister was responding to a debate in Rajya Sabha on 75 years of the Constitution of India when he made pointed remarks directed at the grand old party.
Union Home Minister Shah in Rajya Sabha declared that the BJP would not allow reservation based on religion, regardless of its political strength.
"Congress wants to give reservation to Muslims by increasing the quota limit beyond 50 per cent. Even if the BJP has just one MP, it will not allow reservation based on religion," he affirmed.
Addressing the gathering, Home Minister Shah posed pointed questions to Congress regarding the delay in implementing the UCC, which he attributed to the introduction of Muslim Personal Law by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
"Why hasn't UCC come yet? It didn't come because after the Constituent Assembly was concluded and elections were over, the country's first PM Nehru Ji introduced Muslim Personal Law, not UCC. I want to ask the Congress party in this House that in a secular nation, should there be a common law for every religion or not? Why do they support the Muslim Personal Law? There can be no bigger political manoeuvre than this. They started appeasement right there by introducing the Muslim Personal Law," Home Minister Shah remarked.
He continued his criticism by saying, "Why wasn't Sharia brought into criminal law? Personal law for marriage and inheritance, but why not Sharia for criminal law?"
Shah pointed out the progress of the government by mentioning the implementation of the UCC in Uttarakhand, which he said would eventually be implemented all over the country after constitutional analysis and public discussions.
"We implemented UCC in Uttarakhand, we want to follow the democratic process. It will be analysed constitutionally. There will be discussions on a societal level and religious experts will opine about it," he said.
Home Minister Shah said that the Modi government will look at all the suggestions and bring UCC in every state.
He further criticized the Congress for contradicting themselves on OBC reservation. He blamed that the party had opposed to report by Kaka Saheb Kalelkar Commission to introduce reservations for OBC's in the year 1995.
"Where is its report? It was forgotten because OBCs would have received reservations. Any report that comes has to be presented to the Cabinet, but instead of bringing it to Parliament, they kept it in the archives," Home Minister Shah said, adding that the report's rejection delayed the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations.
The senior BJP leader reacted to Rahul Gandhi's recent comments on Veer Savarkar by saying that Savarkar was the only person who had been awarded a life sentence twice and asked him to take Indira Gandhi's praise of Savarkar on two occasions into consideration.
"If you don't listen to us, at least listen to Indira Gandhi who has praised him in two instances," Home Minister Shah remarked.
He urged all political parties to not link "patriotism, bravery, sacrifice, and service" with religion and political ideology.
The Union Home Minister did not shy away from criticising Congress's actions in the past, including the 39th Amendment and the Emergency period. He referenced the Allahabad High Court's decision to declare Indira Gandhi’s election null and void in 1975.
"The 49th Amendment in the Constitution crossed all the limits. August 10, 1975, was a black day. The Allahabad High Court nullified the elections of Indira Gandhi. It was being used to defy the high court's judgment and this retrospective amendment has been bought to make sure that not even judicial scrutiny is there against the Prime Minister," he added.
Shah also appealed to the Congress to leave behind "appeasement, dynastic politics, and corruption" as he said that in the next election, it would be the people's decision whom they want to be led by.
On the Congress's allegations against the EVMs, he said, "Today, they lose and blame the EVM. The SC has rejected the plea against the EVM 24 times. The EC kept the EVM from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for three days open for anyone to prove if it could be hacked. No one came. They lost Maharashtra and won in Jharkhand on the same day. The people of Maharashtra punished them for disrespecting their previous mandate. On the same day, EVM was blamed in Maharashtra and they prepared themselves for the swearing-in ceremony in Jharkhand."
He also responded to Rahul Gandhi's "Mohabbat ki dukaan" slogan, which was used during the 2022 Bharat Jodo Yatra, saying, "Love is not something to be sold in a shop, nor is it a tool for propaganda. Love is a feeling that resides in the heart and is meant to be shared with others."
On Abrogation of Article 370, Home Minister Shah said, "When Narendra Modi became the PM of the country again in 2019, we abrogated Article 370 and Article 35A in Parliament. In Rajya Sabha, they (Congress) used to say that rivers of blood would flow in Jammu and Kashmir, but no one dared to even throw stones. (After the abrogation of Article 370).
He said that the progress in the Union Territory was "For the first time, 35,000 members of Panchayat were elected. After the abrogation of Article 370, more than two lakh tourists came to Jammu and Kashmir, terrorist activities were reduced by 92 per cent, people of Pahari, Gujjar and Bakarwal communities got reservations, the national flag is flying at Lal Chowk, the highest railway arch bridge is being built on Chenab river. After the abrogation of Article 370, your shop of appeasement politics has closed."
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