Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies “vehemently attacked” Indira Gandhi for the 42nd Amendment, but did not mention that he along with other Congress MPs had voted in favor of the 44th Amendment. , under which many of the provisions brought through the 42nd Amendment were removed.
Ramesh said the Prime Minister and his colleagues also did not mention the fact that many provisions of the 42nd Amendment have been retained since it was enacted nearly half a century ago.
“During the debate on the Constitution, the Prime Minister and his colleagues launched a furious attack on Indira Gandhi over the 42nd Amendment passed by Parliament in December 1976,” he said in a post on X.
“He did not mention that Indira Gandhi herself, along with other Congress MPs, had voted in favor of the 44th Amendment in December 1978, when Morarji Desai was the Prime Minister,” he said.
The words “socialist” and “secular” were included in the Preamble of the Constitution under the 42nd Constitutional Amendment introduced by the Indira Gandhi government in 1976.
The amendment changed the description of India in the Preamble from a “sovereign, democratic Republic” to a “sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic Republic”. Ramesh said that the 44th Amendment removed many of the provisions brought in through the 42nd Amendment.
“The Prime Minister and his colleagues did not even mention the fact that many provisions of the 42nd Amendment have been retained since it was enacted nearly half a century ago,” the Congress leader said.
Ramesh said that the provisions of the 42nd Amendment include the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ in the Preamble, which have recently been considered by the Supreme Court as part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
Ramesh said these include Article 39-A which provides equal justice and free legal aid and Article 43-A which provides for workers’ participation in the management of industries.
He said the provisions retained include Article 48-A which provides for protection and improvement of the environment and protection of forests and wildlife.
He said that these also include Article 51-A which lists 11 fundamental duties of citizens and Articles 323-A and 323-B provide for administrative and other tribunals.
Ramesh said education, population planning, environment and forests have been included in the Seventh Schedule, i.e. the Concurrent List, which gives responsibility to both the Central and State governments.
Earlier this month, a two-day debate on “75 years of the glorious journey of the Indian Constitution” was held in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, which saw heated exchanges between the ruling party and the opposition.
