Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi has slammed Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raking up the 1975-77 Emergency to divert attention from the “assault on the Constitution”. In an article titled ‘Preaching consensus, provoking confrontation’, Sonia Gandhi wrote: “The Emergency was dredged up by the Prime Minister and his party – astonishingly, even by the Speaker whose position is incompatible with any public political stance other than one of strict impartiality.”
Sonia Gandhi said in the 1977 elections, people gave their verdict on the Emergency, which was accepted without hesitation. But within three years, Congress got a huge majority, which PM Modi’s BJP has not been able to achieve till now.
She said it was only an attempt to subvert attention away from the “assault on the Constitution, on its foundational principles and values, on the institutions it has created and empowered”. She said the government and Speraker’s actions did not “augur well for the smooth functioning of Parliament”.
She also targeted the Prime Minister over the irregularities in the NEET exam, saying: “The Prime Minister who does his ‘Pariksha pe Charcha’ has been conspicuously silent on the leaks that have devastated so many families across the country.”
Sonia Targets Modi Over Greater Nicobar Project
Sonia Gandhi called for a revision of the forest laws that enabled the passage of Greater Nicobar Project which would result in massive ecological loss. Citing the unprecedented suspension of Opposition leaders from the parliament last year, she asked: “Should these laws not be kept in abeyance till they have undergone fuller Parliamentary scrutiny in keeping with accepted parliamentary practice and especially since the electoral verdict of 2024?”
She said the government was able to push through amendments to forest conservation and biological diversity protection forest laws last year amid the chaos in Parliament. “An ecological and humanitarian disaster is awaiting us as the Great Nicobar project is pushed through. Should they also not be revisited to give meaning to the Prime Minister’s stated desire for consensus and for the passage of laws after full debate and discussion,” she asked.
Sonia Gandhi said the election results are a sign of personal, political and moral defeat for PM Modi. The mandate has rejected hatred and divisive politics, but the PM’s behaviour reflects nothing has changed for the BJP, she said. She further said that PM Modi preaches consensus but promotes conflict.
