Cong considered Constitution 'private fiefdom' of one family, amended it to stay in power: Shah

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday attacked the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, saying the party treated the Constitution as the "private fiefdom" of one family and "played fraud" with Parliament.

Concluding a two-day debate on the "Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India", Shah ripped into the Congress for its appeasement politics and claimed that the party wanted to breach the 50 per cent quota limit to provide reservation to Muslims.

He also asked the Congress if it supported the Muslim personal law and alleged that the party never worked for the welfare of the backward classes.

Shah asserted that the BJP has already brought in a common civil code (Uniform Civil Code) in Uttarakhand and will implement it in all states.

He attacked the Congress for being a "sore loser" as it blamed EVMs for its defeat in the assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana, saying the party should give up its canard against EVMs and shed its appeasement and dynastic politics as well as corruption to return to power.

"In the last 75 years, the Congress played fraud in the name of the Constitution... They (Nehru-Gandhi family) considered not just the party as their private property, but also treated the Constitution as their 'private fiefdom'," Shah alleged, referring to the insertion of Article 35A without parliamentary assent.

Criticising the Congress for bringing in reservation on the basis of religion in two states ruled by it, Shah termed it "unconstitutional".

"It is clearly stated in the Constitution that no reservation will be based on religion... They (Congress) do not want any welfare of OBCs, they want to give reservations to Muslims by increasing the limit of 50 per cent.

"But today, once again I say with responsibility in this House that as long as the BJP has even one MP, we will not allow reservation on the basis of religion," the home minister asserted.

He said that in 1955, the Kaka Kalelkar Commission was formed to provide reservations to OBCs but the report was nowhere to be found.

"Had the recommendations of the Kaka Kalelkar Commission been accepted, the Mandal Commission would not have been formed. In 1980, the recommendations of the Mandal Commission came out, but it was not implemented. It was implemented when the Congress was voted out in 1990," Shah said.

He also alleged that the Congress amended the Constitution to remain in power and for its own benefit.

The Union home minister accused the party of being anti-reservation and said it never worked for the benefit of the backward classes.

At the outset, he noted that the Constitution strengthened the roots of democracy and the transfer of power happens without shedding even a drop of blood.

Shah listed many amendments made to the Constitution by the Congress, claiming the party did so for its own benefit.

Even before the first elections in the country, Jawaharlal Nehru effected the first Constitutional amendment to curtail the freedom of expression, he claimed.

Shah also charged that the Congress deprived Muslim women of their rights for years only for vote bank politics.

"They (Cong) did nothing except eulogising one family," Shah said.