Amit Shah tears into Congress in Rajya Sabha; accuses it of treating Constitution as ‘private property’ of one family

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi ripped into Congress in Lok Sabha last week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the party, accusing it of treating the Constitution as the "private property" of one family and amending it to remain in power.

Shah's comments came during a discussion on the "Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India" in the Parliament.

The senior BJP leader alleged that the Congress brought various amendments to the Constitution for its own benefit.


Citing an example, he claimed that even before the first elections in the country, then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru carried out the first constitutional amendment to "curtail the freedom of expression."

"You treat the party (Congress) like your family's property, and now you treat the Constitution the same way," Shah said.

The Home Minister also accused the Congress of being “anti-reservation” and failing to work for the upliftment of backward classes. "Congress lost as people found they were carrying fake copies of Constitution."

In his speech, Shah criticized the opposition party for “finding faults” with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) after electoral losses. He also accused the Congress of denying rights to Muslim women for decades, attributing it to "vote bank politics."

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

Shah also said that the people of the country through the Constitution have given appropriate response to those who used to say that India will not become powerful economically. He also promised that the BJP government will bring Uniform Civil Code in every state.

"The debates that happened in both Houses of the Parliament will be useful for the youth of the country... It will also help the people of the country to understand which party has honoured the Constitution and which has not...When we look back on 75 years of Constitution, I want to thank Sardar Patel as due to his tireless efforts we are standing tall and in the world as one nation," Amit Shah said.

"In the last 75 years, there have been many nations nation that became independent and had new beginnings but democracy did not succeed there. But our democracy is deep-rooted. We made numerous changes without shedding a drop of blood. The people of this country have shattered the arrogance of multiple dictators and that too democratically," he added.