Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar targets Rahul Gandhi over quota remark, says it shows ‘anti-constitutional mindset’

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said that awareness about India’s Constitution is highly needed, as some people have forgotten its soul.
| Photo Credit: PTI

In a veiled attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on “ending reservations”, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Sunday (September 15, 2024) that such comments by a person holding a constitutional post show an “anti-constitutional mindset”.

Addressing a public event in Mumbai, Mr. Dhankhar also said awareness about India’s Constitution is highly needed as some people have forgotten its soul.

“A person from a constitutional post saying on a foreign land that reservation should be ended underscores the same anti-constitutional mindset. The baton of prejudices against reservation has been handed over. It is the same old anti-constitutional mindset,” he said without taking the name of Gandhi, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.

“Reservation is not against meritocracy, but it is the soul of the country and the Constitution. It is an affirmative action and not negative. It is not depriving someone of opportunity but handholding those who are pillars of strength of the society,” the Vice President said.

During a recent visit to the U.S., Mr. Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, said the Congress would think of scrapping reservations when “India is a fair place”, which he said is not the case right now.

However, at press interaction in the U.S. later, Mr. Gandhi had said he was misquoted to show that he was against reservations. “I have been saying again and again and again, we are going to increase reservations beyond 50%,” Mr. Gandhi clarified.

Mr. Dhankhar said it was an irony that the foreign tour was not to follow duties like protecting the sovereignty and integrity of India and respecting its Constitution but instead “to express disrespect for the Constitution publicly”.

“The Constitution is not to be flaunted like a book. It has to be respected, read and understood. No gentleman, a wise person, or a person who respects the Constitution would ever accept such behaviour,” he further said targeting the Congress leader.

Incidentally, Mr. Gandhi, during the Lok Sabha poll campaign, would often show a copy of the abridged version of the Constitution to boost the Congress-led opposition’s charge that the BJP wanted to change the Constitution and end reservations.

“The one holding a constitutional position is carrying out serialised, periodic anti-India rants on foreign soil. Can we overlook the continuous sacrileges of our Constitution? I call upon the youth to rebuff such misadventures; they hurt our motherland,” said the Vice President.

They should be ready to fight forces that disrespect the Constitution and its values, Mr. Dhankhar asserted.

He criticised the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for imposing an emergency in the country on June 25, 1975, and said it was “the darkest period of our democracy”.

“Indira Gandhi triggered an earthquake against the people and their rights by imposing Emergency. Our country suffered a lot in those 21 months. Thousands of people were jailed, the law was set aside, and that period exactly shows dictatorship. The dream of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, who wrote the Constitution, was shattered due to Emergency,” he asserted.

The current government, therefore, recognised June 25 as ‘Constitution Murder Day’ (Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas) to ensure the present generation does not forget the hardships faced during that “heart-wrenching” time, when constitutional processes were ignored, Mr. Dhankhar said.

There are lessons to be learnt from such an attack on the Constitution, he added.

In an attack on previous Congress governments, the VP said, “The Mandal Commission report was submitted to the Union Government but no action was taken on it for ten years. The country saw two Prime Ministers in the same period, Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi. Both did nothing about it.”

Mr. Dhankhar recalled that he was Lok Sabha MP when Babasaheb Ambedkar was posthumously bestowed with Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, on March 31, 1990.

“Earlier governments had forgotten the importance of Dr. Ambedkar. The Bharat Ratna came very late for Mr. Babasaheb, which he indeed deserved,” the VP said.