Congress made amendments to shield those in power: FM Sitharaman
Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday initiated the debate on the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha and launched a scathing attack on the Congress accusing the party of amending the Constitution to restrict civil liberties and to protect those in power.
Starting with the First Amendment of the Constitution, she accused the Congress of curbing freedom of speech. «In the last seven decades, this living document, our Constitution, has seen many amendments,» she said, adding, "...The Supreme Court in 1950 had ruled in favour of the Communist magazine 'Cross Roads' and the RSS organisational magazine 'Organiser'. But in response, the (then) interim government thought that there was a need for a First Constitutional Amendment and that was brought in by the Indian National Congress and it was essentially to curb freedom. So India, a democratic country which prides itself even today on freedom of expression, saw the first interim government coming up with a constitutional amendment which was to curb the freedom of speech of Indians and that too within one year of adoption of the Constitution..."
She added that the First Amendment was done by former PM Jawaharlal Nehru despite MPs being against it, to harm the press and it is still affecting the freedom of media.
In her speech, Sitharaman said that a critical evaluation of amendments based on four criteria was required which include whether they were genuine, their outcome for the people, the processes adopted, and adherence to the Constitution's spirit.«Today, we hear comments from
