Opposition Leader Mallikarjun Kharge Accuses PM Modi of Lying in Parliament

Mallikarjun Kharge, the head of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi with "lying" in parliament on Wednesday, citing the BJP's and the RSS's historical "fierce opposition to the Constitution of India."

During Modi's reply to the Rajya Sabha's discussion on the motion of thanks to the President's address, Kharge had attempted to correct the record. Thirty minutes into the Prime Minister's speech, Kharge led an Opposition walkout after repeated attempts to intervene failed to produce the intended outcome.

Modi made several attempts on Tuesday and Wednesday to portray the Congress as anti-Constitutional and to disparage Babasaheb Ambedkar, the head of its drafting committee.

Many interpreted his speech as an apparent attempt to exact revenge on the BJP for the defeats it suffered in the Lok Sabha elections due to the opposition's interpretation of the Constitution, which created fear that reservations would be eliminated if the Modi government won a sizable majority for a third consecutive term.

However, Jagdeep Dhankhar, the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, referred to the opposition walkout as an affront to the Constitution. Kharge repeatedly raised his hands to interrupt Modi while he was speaking. Nevertheless, the Opposition left during Modi's speech when Dhankhar refused to let him speak.

"The nation is observing. The people who disseminate false information lack the fortitude to hear the truth. According to Modi, "They are demeaning the Upper House and its heritage." Dhankhar claimed that although he had given Kharge a free speech, the opposition had left.

"They turned their backs on the House tradition and embraced the Constitution." This is the greatest affront to the Constitution that there is. I abhor their behavior. They have broken their pledge and insulted the spirit of the Constitution, Dhankhar stated.

Kharge added, "INDIA parties walked out of the Rajya Sabha because PM Modi was lying," when briefing reporters later and in a post on X. He says that we are against the Constitution, but in actuality, the Indian Constitution was strongly opposed by the BJP-RSS, Jansangh, and their political ancestors.

"At that time, they had set fire to the statues of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. This is deplorable and a betrayal of democratic principles. In actuality, Dr. Ambedkar gave the Congress party credit for crafting the Constitution, according to Kharge.

Kharge stated that he had wished to get these facts documented in the Rajya Sabha and provided two quotes to support his argument.

The RSS's publication, The Organiser (November 30, 1949, page 3), expressed its opinions about the Manusmriti by writing, "There is no mention of the special constitutional developments in ancient Bharat in our Constitution. Manu's laws predate both Solon of Persia and Lycurgus of Sparta by a great distance. The laws set out in the Manusmriti continue to inspire global admiration and compel unprompted compliance.
However, that is meaningless to our constitutional experts (read Ambedkar).

The second quotation came from Ambedkar's closing statements on November 25, 1949, during the Constituent Assembly's deliberations on the Constitution. "I was consequently rather taken aback when I was chosen to serve on the drafting committee by the Assembly. When I was chosen to lead the drafting committee, I was taken aback beyond belief. Men bigger, better, and more skilled than I was were in the drafting committee. The Congress party's discipline allowed the drafting committee to pilot the Constitution in the Assembly knowing with certainty what would happen to each article and amendment. Therefore, the Congress party deserves full credit for the draft constitution's successful passage through the Assembly.

Sushmita Dev, a TMC MP, also charged the PM with lying in the House.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.