‘English Is Good But Not Deeds…’: War Of Words Between Sitharaman, Kharge In Rajya Sabha
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Parliament Winter Session: Nirmala Sitharaman accused the Congress of making several amendments to the Constitution to silence the critics and curb free speech and expression.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and LoP Mallikarjun Kharge speak in the House during the Winter session of Parliament. (PTI)
Parliament Winter Session: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Mallikarjun Kharge traded guns at each other during the debate on ‘Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India’ in the upper house of the Parliament on Monday.
Initiating the discussion, the union minister attacked the grand-old party and its leaders, including former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, and said the Constitutional amendments that they brought were to brazenly help the “family” and the “dynasty”.
Sitharaman accused the Congress of making several amendments to the Constitution to silence the critics and curb free speech and expression. She said that the grand old party’s record of curtailing freedom of speech didn’t confine it to these two people and referred to the first Constitutional amendment in 1951.
Sitharaman further spoke about the 42nd Amendment by the Indira Gandhi government in 1976 during the Emergency period. She said that the former PM “learned her lesson” after she suffered a massive electoral loss due to the imposition of Emergency in the country in 1975.
Sitharaman further said the economic policies of the previous Congress governments for about 50 years did not strengthen the Indian economy. She also termed the Congress party as “anti-women” for not passing the Women’s Reservation Bill under pressure of its coalition partners.
Kharge’s Jibe At Sitharaman
In a swipe at Sitharaman over her attack on Nehru, Kharge underlined that the union minister is herself graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Kharge said while Sitharaman might be an “economic expert”, her deeds were not good.
“I have to tell them that I also know how to read. I have studied at municipality school. She (Nirmala Sitharaman) studied at Jawaharlal Nehru University. It is certain that her English will be good, her Hindi will be good, but her deeds are not good,” Kharge said.
VIDEO | “I have to tell them that I also know how to read. I have studied in municipality school, she (Nirmala Sitharaman) has studied in Jawaharlal Nehru University, it is certain that her English will be good, her Hindi will be good, but the deeds are not good,” says Congress… pic.twitter.com/1PFqGVS9II— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 16, 2024
Accusing the BJP of abusing the Gandhi family, Kharge said “those who hated the tricolour, Ashok Chakra and the Constitution” were today giving lessons on the Constitution.
“Those people who hate the national flag, those who hate our ‘Ashok Chakra’, those who hate the Constitution… such people are trying to teach us. When the Constitution was made, these people burned it. They torched effigies of Babasaheb Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi at Ramleela Maidan (in Delhi) the day the Constitution was adopted,” the Congress president said.
The Rajya Sabha has convened for a two-day special debate to mark the 75th anniversary of the Constitution on December 16. It will debate on the issue on Monday and Tuesday. Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said time would not be a constraint and as many speakers willing to speak would be accommodated by extending the duration of the discussion.
During the debate on the Constitution in Lok Sabha last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh slammed Congress for bringing several Constitutional amendments during its rule and said that “it did not strengthen the democracy, but a dynasty.”
(With inputs from agencies)
