Cong amended Constitution to secure interests of a family: FM

NEW DELHI: The Constitution has stood the test of time unlike several countries that gained independence after World War II, but had their founding documents either rewritten or modified, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday in the Rajya Sabha.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

In a searing criticism of the Congress, she said that when the party was in power, amendments to the Constitution were made for personal gains rather than national interest.

"...Many (countries) have changed their constitutions, not just amended them, but literally changed the entire feature of their Constitution. But our Constitution has stood the test of time, of course, it yielded itself to very many amendments," she said.

Initiating the debate to mark the 75th year of the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said there were four parameters on which the amendments can be gauged to be in public and national interest. "While looking at those amendments, I would like to have a touchstone of four different elements - is the social intent and the social outcome behind many Constitutional amendment genuine; if the economic intent and the economic outcome behind any Constitutional amendment is bonafide and has it helped the society at large; has the process adopted for the amendment itself, and the Constitutional Spirit behind such an amendment," she said.

She then proceeded to argue that from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi, the Congress only made amendments to secure the "interests of the family."

The first Constitutional amendment was brought by Nehru to curb freedom of speech in 1951, she said and cited the arrests of actor Balraj Sahni and lyricist and poet Majrooh Sultanpuri to highlight how the freedom of expression was curtailed. "An interim government felt the need to bring the first amendment...The first amendment to curb the freedom of speech, The first Prime Minister deplored press scrutiny of his government," she said.