Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday laid out 11 resolutions (Sankalp) aimed at achieving a “Viksit Bharat” by 2047 (Developed India).
These resolutions are rooted in constitutional values, Modi said replying to Constitution debate in Lok Sabha after a heated exchanges between the opposition and treasury benches for the last two days
The 11 duties laid down by him included the stipulation for citizens and the government to follow their responsibility, equal development for all sections or ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, zero tolerance to corruption and the corrupt should be socially ostracised.
Enlisting the other duties, he said everybody should take pride in following the rules and regulations, taking pride in the country’s heritage and ridding oneself of the colonial mindset.
Targeting Congress, the PM laid down the sixth pledge of freeing the country from the dynastic system.
His seventh pledge also was aimed at the Congress whose leaders, including Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, carry copies of the Constitution as political platforms. “The seventh duty is respect for the Constitution and total ban on its use as a tool for political gains,” he said.
Opposition to the religion-based reservation and no tolerance for the removal of quotas was the PM’s eighth pledge. Promoting women-led development and nation-building through state building were his ninth and tenth Sankalp. He ended with the 11th pledge that “Ek Bharat, Shreshta Bharat” should be the driving principle for all.
Attacks Gandhis: Modi also launched a scathing attack on the Congress party and Gandhi family. In his speech that lasted about two hours, Modi took a swipe at the past Congress governments, accusing them of planting “poisonous” seeds in the country’s diversity to accentuate its contradictions and damage its unity. He said they left no stone unturned to strike blows to the Constitution.
“This family challenged the Constitution at every level,” he said, adding that he was singling out the family as its members were in power for 55 years.
The family, having “tasted blood”, repeatedly wounded the Constitution, he said, citing several decisions of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi when they held the office of prime minister.
Their next generation is also into the same game, he said in a swipe at the Leader of Opposition in the House Rahul Gandhi and his MP sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Modi said leaders like him and many others who came from ordinary families could never have reached where they did but for the strength of the Constitution, as he underlined his long commitment to its values. He said first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru amended the country’s guiding document to curb freedom of expression and his daughter Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency to defy a Supreme Court judgment that annulled her election as an MP.
Modi said India defied all apprehensions about its democratic future after independence and added its Constitution has brought the country to this stage. He paid tributes to the makers of the Constitution and the country’s citizens for living up to the spirit of its makers.
The special two-day debate in Lok Sabha on 75 years of the Constitution concluded on Saturday. Rajya Sabha will take up the debate next week.
Cong slams Modi
The Congress on Saturday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 11 resolutions he articulated in his speech in the Lok Sabha as “hollow” and called him a “distorian” par excellence who “puts WhatsApp University to shame.”
The opposition party also questioned why Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were not present in the House when Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi spoke while participating in a two-day debate.
Asked about the PM’s remarks, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra likened his over 110-minutes speech in the Lok Sabha to a “double period of mathematics” from school that “bored us.” She slammed his 11 resolutions as “hollow” and said if there is zero tolerance towards corruption then why doesn’t the BJP agree to a discussion on the Adani issue.
“PM has not spoken one thing which is new, he has bored us. It took me decades back, I felt like I’m sitting in that double period of Mathematics,” she said.
“(JP) Nadda ji was also rubbing hands but as soon as Modi ji looked at him, he started acting as if he is listening attentively. Amit Shah also had his hand on head, (Piyush) Goyal ji was going off to sleep. It was a new experience for me. I had thought that the PM will say something new, something nice,” she said.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “Mr. Narendra Modi has a MA in Entire Political Science — whatever that means. Today in the Lok Sabha he showed that he is also a Distorian par excellence.”
