Cong amended Constitution to secure interests of a family: FM

ATTACKING THE ECONOMIC POLICIES OF THE CONGRESS, WHICH SHE SAID HAD BORROWED FROM THE SOVIET MODEL, THE MINISTER SAID SOVIET MODEL WAS COPIED BY NEHRU AND CONTINUED BY INDIRA GANDHI, BUT DID NOT STRENGTHEN THE ECONOMY

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

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. 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."