Mallikarjun Kharge warns against changing Constitution

The first day of the special sitting to commemorate 125 years of adoption of the Constitution winded up on a nasty note after Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge cautioned the government against making any fundamental change in the law book.

Taking part in the discussion, which largely degenerated into slanging match among speakers seeking to run down the others, Mr Kharge, in an apparent bid to join the issue with Union home minister Rajnath Singh, who earlier in the day had touched off a debate on the Hindi translation of secularism, stated that no such change in the Constitution would be allowed. However, the Constitution has been amended over 100 times since its adoption on January 26, 1950.

In a bid to counter the claims of Mr Singh that the makers of Constitution did not favour inclusion of words “socialism and secularism”, Mr Kharge said though Ambedkar was also in favour of putting the word in the Preamble, he could not do so due to the prevailing situation then. Mr Kharge sought to raise the issue of intolerance. “This is a record that the PM is sitting since morning. I would like to ask him, does he agree with Union minister V.K. Singh’s remark that the government cannot be blamed if anyone throws a stone at a dog ” he said.

He wanted to know if the government would allow quota in judiciary to allow members of Scheduled Castes to get representation. He said since jobs are mostly being created in the corporate sector, would the government think of quota through legislation in the private sector.