Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 15: Senior BJP leader and former Minister, Bali Bhagat came down heavily on the Congress party for accusing the Modi Government of weakening the Constitution, stating that it was, in fact, the Congress regime that systematically eroded Constitutional values through decades of manipulative amendments and divisive politics.
Reacting sharply to the Congress leader’s baseless allegations, the senior BJP leader said that right from 1947 to 2013, the Congress Government had introduced and amended over 50 laws that diluted the spirit of the Constitution. “It is ironic that the same party which imposed emergency in 1975, curtailed fundamental rights, and censored the press is now preaching about Constitutional values,” he said, pointing to the draconian move by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, which remains one of the darkest chapters in Indian democracy.
Bali Bhagat also reminded the public that Articles 370 and 35A, which discriminated against citizens and hampered national integration, were products of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s regime. “It took Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s visionary leadership to finally abrogate these articles and fully integrate Jammu & Kashmir with the rest of India,” he asserted.
The former Minister further said that even the Waqf Board was established under Nehru’s leadership, and the 1995 Waqf Act gave it vast control, often used politically. He added that the 2013 amendments to the Waqf Act, made under Congress rule, further empowered religious institutions in ways that undermined secular principles.
Highlighting other historical blunders, Bali said that large area of Indian land were ceded to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Burma under Congress rule without national consensus or public interest. He also criticized the Minority Commission Act of 1992, stating it was enacted only to divide Hindu society and appease specific communities.
Citing the 1984 general elections, he pointed out that the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress, with over 404 seats, amended the Citizenship Act in 1985 to grant citizenship to 60 lakh illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam, thus distorting the demography of the region.
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