JD(U) MP slams Congress in RS for talking about Constitution

Patna: While Congress leaders claimed that the Constitution is under threat under the Narendra Modi government, JD (U) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha highlighted how the Congress 'respected' the Constitution when it was in power at the Centre.

In his maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha during the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address on Wednesday, Jha detailed how the Congress leadership twisted the Constitution in 2005.

He stated, "The President of India discussed the emergency period in her speech, and Bihar was the biggest battleground of it. Under the leadership of Jai Prakash Narayan, the total revolution movement was started. The emergency was imposed in the country in 1975, but I want to point out two things on the floor of the House. In 2005, there was a UPA government at the Centre, and the assembly election was held in Bihar in February. At that time, a hung assembly emerged. After two months, Nitish Kumar managed to achieve a majority in the Bihar assembly and was about to form the government. At that time, Buta Singh was the governor of Bihar. He called for a cabinet meeting. The then President (APJ Abdul Kalam) was in Moscow. The paper was sent to the Bihar governor by fax, and President's Rule was imposed in Bihar. This is the reality of the Congress's expression of love towards the Constitution," Jha said.

He pointed out two incidents of that time. While quoting the Union law minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj, he said: “Bhardwaj, in his statement, pointed out that he was under tremendous pressure from the Manmohan Singh government to get a favorable order from the Supreme Court to impose President's Rule in Bihar in 2005 to prevent the JD (U) and BJP combined government from coming to power. Bhardwaj said that he met Chief Justice YK Sabbarwal who headed the constitution bench which deals with the case to get a favorable judgment.”

“The five-judge bench held that the imposition of President's Rule was a misuse of article 356 and was clearly politically motivated based on the report of Governor Buta Singh,” Jha said.

While quoting Hans Raj Bhardwaj again, Jha said: “The former law minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj in his statement said Justice Sabbarwal was his family friend but was a tough judge and he could not muster the courage to ask him any favour on this issue when we met him for a cup of coffee.”

“Then BJP leader Arun Jaitley objected to President's Rule in Bihar,” Jha said.

Sanjay Jha also referred to some content from a book called “The Turning Point” written by the then President APJ Abdul Kalam.

“As soon as the verdict was known (on President's Rule in Bihar), I wrote a letter of resignation and was about to send it to the then Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who was a seasoned politician and a lawyer. He was away from the country at that time. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted to see me for some other discussion. We met in my office in the afternoon. After finishing the discussion, I said that I had decided to resign from the post of the President and showed him the letter. The Prime Minister was disturbed as soon as he saw the letter. The scene was touching and I do not want to describe it. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pleaded that I should not do it in this difficult time. He said that the result of it may create such a circumstance that even the government might fall. Hence, I did not give the resignation,” Jha said while quoting from the book of the then President APJ Abdul Kalam.

"Now, they are roaming with the Constitution book while the law minister of the UPA government went to the President's House and took the signature for President's Rule in Bihar at night. Everyone knew who was running the government at that time. Who was the superpower and imposed President's Rule in Bihar," Jha said.