Jairam Ramesh accuses PM Modi, HM of subverting constitutional principles

Taking a swipe at the RSS-BJP on Constitution Day, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday alleged that the Sangh's role was to attack and undermine it, and that role had been taken forward by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah "who have been subverting constitutional principles in a calculated manner".

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the RSS "had no role whatsoever" in the making of the Constitution  "On Saturday, November 26 1949, the Constituent Assembly met at 10 AM with Dr. Rajendra Prasad in the Chair. Before formally putting the motion for the adoption of the draft Constitution of India that had been moved by Dr. Ambedkar the previous day to the vote, Dr Rajendra Prasad made his remarks," Ramesh recalled.

"In his speech explaining the background to and highlights of the Draft that was soon to be adopted, Dr. Rajendra Prasad recalled: 'The method which the Constituent Assembly adopted in connection with the Constitution was first to lay down its 'terms of reference' as it were in the form of an Objectives Resolution which was moved by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (on Dec 13 1946) in an inspiring speech and which constitutes now the Preamble to our Constitution.

"It then proceeded to appoint a number of committees to deal with different aspects of the Constitutional problem. Dr. Ambedkar mentioned the names of these Committees. Several of these had as their Chairman Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru or Sardar Patel to whom thus goes the credit for the fundamentals of our Constitution......'," Ramesh said quoting Prasad.

"Dr. Rajendra Prasad ended his speech thus: '....I have realised as nobody else could have, with what zeal and devotion the members of the Drafting Committee and especially its Chairman Dr. Ambedkar, in spite of his indifferent health, have worked. We could never make a decision which was or could be ever so right as when we put him on the Drafting Committee and made him its Chairman. He has not only justified his selection but has added lustre to the work he has done....'," he said.

Just as the Constituent Assembly was adopting the Constitution, Governor-General of India C. Rajagopalachari was in Guwahati, replying to the address of welcome from the people of Assam, Ramesh recalled.

"In the course of his brief remarks, Rajaji reminisced warmly: 'Dr. Ambedkar's leading part in steering, on behalf of the Indian National Congress, the Constitution of Independent India is the greatest triumph of non-violence...Regarding this entrustment of responsibility to Dr. Ambedkar to the end of my days I shall proudly cherish the memory of my own initiative in the matter when I was not Governor-General, which received the most generous and most large-hearted and immediate acceptance by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel'," he recalled.

This is all part of the history of Constitution making in which the RSS had no role whatsoever, Ramesh said.

"In fact its role after the Constitution was adopted was to attack and undermine it, a role taken forward by the present PM and HM who have been subverting Constitutional principles, provisions, and practices in a calculated manner," the Congress leader said.

Since 2015, Constitution Day, or Samvidhan Diwas, has been celebrated on November 26 to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949.