PM Narendra Modi hit out hard at the Congress-led Opposition during his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President's address, saying that it was a party which consistently flouted democratic principles while in power, according to him, and now had the gall to lecture the NDA government on threats to the Constitution.
Giving numerous examples from the UPA I and UPA II regimes, PM Modi said it is the Congress party that presents the biggest threat to constitutional principles. He was reacting to accusations by the opposition that the Constitution is under threat from the Modi government.
PM Modi pointedly recalled instances of how the Congress undermined constitutional values by questioning the legitimacy of decisions by the National Advisory Council to override the Prime Minister's authority and incidents where the office of the Prime Minister was openly ridiculed.
Referring to some specific incidents, PM Modi asked, "Who gave a Congress MP the right to tear up a Cabinet note in front of the media?" He also flayed the Congress for its conduct on Emergency and Turkman Gate as instances when democratic freedoms were severely curtailed.
PM Modi recalled, "Democracy was trampled upon, ordinary citizens were harassed, and many people were jailed and tortured without any reason," and bemoaned that black era of the Emergency.
Despite such a past history, PM Modi accused the Congress of now hypocritically trying to assume a champion's role in protecting constitutional safeguards while misdeeds like these are sought to be concealed while brandishing copies of the Constitution.
PM Modi tore into the Congress, terming it a "Parjeevi Congress"—a party that survives on borrowed strength—and went on to say that it had no credible base and depended on false narratives and alliances to influence public opinion, rather than any substantive achievements.
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