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For the last four days the Indian Parliament has witnessed uproarious ruckus and chaos over an objectionable and silly statement made by the Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti during a public meeting in Delhi. There was full-throated slogan shouting, particularly in the Rajya Sabha as the united Opposition stuck to its demand for the resignation of the Minister. While the Rajya Sabha witnessed several adjournments, the scene in the Lok Sabha was somewhat different. .The Question Hour was held amidst din and disorder. As the government went ahead with its business schedule amid slogan-shouting, the members of the Opposition staged a walkout during Zero Hour.
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All opposition parties have been asking for the immediate resignation of the Sadhvi, alleging that she had violated the solemn oath of her office. The most surprising aspect of the ruckus is that no Member of Parliament nor any media analyst has tried to understand that the oath office prescribed in the Constitution has been violated a number of times in Indian Parliament.
Trouble started in both Houses as soon as they met for the day, with members of parties like TMC, Congress, CPI(M) and RSP shouting slogans. With the Prime Minister present in the Lok Sabha after his week-long tours, the Opposition members vociferously pressed for a statement from him. They questioned how he could allow a minister who used such “abusive” language to remain a part of his government. As the Opposition members shouted slogans in the well, BJP members, particularly women MPs, countered the Opposition attack on Ms Jyoti, who was also present in the House.
The latest trick adopted by the opposition parties is to force a resolution in the Rajya Sabha seeking censure of Sadhvi Jyoti and eeking her resignation. It is a bizarre move aimed at embarrassing the government and continuing the logjam in Rajya Sabha.
It is really shocking that most of our Parliamentarians have short tempers and shorter memories. While accusing the Sadhvi of violating the oath of her office, they have forgotten the worst instance of the violation of the oath of office by the former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. On 9 December 2014, Dr. Manmohan Singh had mischievously declared that in future Muslims will have the first claim to national resources. This demeaning policy statement was made on Sonia Gandhi’s birthday. According to the rumour mill circulating in Lutyen’s New Delhi at that time, the highly discriminatory statement was made at prompting of an adviser to the UPA Chairperson.
It is indeed a tribute to the pliability of the mainstream media that no one dared question the Constitutional validity of Manmohan Singh’s nakedly communal policy statement. No one, neither any columnist nor media anchor of any TV channel faulted the Prime Minister for this unprecedented and deliberate violation of the Oath of Office taken by him. Among other things, the oath of office prescribed in the Third Schedule, Part I of the Constitution, enjoins that the Prime Minister should discharge his duties towards all of India’s nationals, “without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”.
“I ………… ……… do swear in the name of God / solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will discharge my duties as Prime Minister for the Union and I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.”
In flagrant violation of his oath of office, the Prime Minister’s shameful statement clearly expressed an unmistakable “affection for the minorities, especially the Muslims.” His communal pronouncement was a nefarious attempt to polarize the voters. a gross violation of the oath of office taken by the Prime Minister and a deliberate one at that.
The second intent of Manmohan Singh, inherent in the wonky pronouncement, was an open expression of bias and ill-will towards the majority community, the Hindus, who constitute nearly 80 percent of the country’s population by denying them an equitable share in the country’s resources. It further indicated that the UPA considered the Hindus to be second class citizens entitled merely to the leftover crumbs—after the Muslims and other minorities had taken the lion’s share of the national resources.
Worst still was the decision of the former Prime Minister, acting in cahoots with his favourites—Salman Khurshid and Justice Sachar—to shower two crore scholarships on the children of Muslims and other four minorities and give them cheap loans worth several lakh crore rupees. According to insiders, this sinister move involved up to 12 lakh crore Rupees for creating a vote bank for the Congress Party.
The worst aspect of the violation of their respective oaths of office by Dr. Manmohan Singhand the then Minister of Minority Affairs, Salman Khurshid was that not a single scholarship was granted to any daughter or son of some 34-35 crore Hindus living below the poverty line.
Congress MPs and their associates need to be taught a lesson by the ruling party here and now. It is time that some gutsy members of the Parliament brought up a motion in both Houses censuring Dr. Manmohan Singh and Salman Khurshid. Apart from pulling the rug from under the feet of the opposition groups, the proposed move will highlight the gross discrimination practiced against the children of poor Hindus because they are ignorant of their Constitutional rights.
Article Summary
Article Title
Sadhvi Jyoti’s remarks aside, here’s how Congress Ministers violated the Constitution
Author
Ram Ohri
Description
Ram Ohri gives his take on the controversy of Sadhvi Jyoti.