Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday termed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill a “brazen assault” on the Constitution, adding that it was “part of the BJP’s strategy to keep society in a state of permanent polarisation”. Hours after the Lok Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Sonia said the move was “bulldozed” through in the Lower House.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday termed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill a “brazen assault” on the Constitution, adding that it was “part of the BJP’s strategy to keep society in a state of permanent polarisation”. Hours after the Lok Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Sonia said the move was “bulldozed” through in the Lower House.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sonia accused him of rebranding, repackaging and marketing numerous initiatives taken during 2004-2014 as his own personal accomplishments. “That too needs to be exposed through our own public outreach activities,” Sonia, currently a member of the Rajya Sabha, asserted.

Addressing a Congress Parliamentary Party meeting in the Samvidhan Sadan here, Sonia also said that the ‘One Nation, One Election’ Bill is another “subversion” of the Constitution and the opposition party would strongly oppose it.

“Yesterday, the Wakf Amendment Bill, 2024 was passed in the Lok Sabha and today it was scheduled to come up in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill was in effect bulldozed through. Our party’s position is clear. The Bill is a brazen assault on the Constitution itself. It is very much a part of the BJP’s deliberate strategy to keep our society in a state of permanent polarization,” said the longest serving Congress President.

The former Congress chief also said that their plea for the immediate implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill passed by both Houses of Parliament two years ago continues to be wilfully ignored along with the other demand for one-third reservation for women belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBC communities.

“Whether it is education, civil rights and liberties, our federal structure or conduct of elections, the Modi government is dragging the country into an abyss wherein our Constitution will remain on paper; and we know their intention is to demolish even that,” she charged.  “It is vital for all of us to continue to fight for what is right and just, to expose the Modi government’s failing and intention to turn India into a surveillance state,” Sonia told party MPs at the meeting.

All party MPs, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, were present.

Sonia Gandhi also said the party leaders have repeatedly been raising the issue of free and fair elections and the need for Parliament to debate the functioning of the Election Commission of India and its “opaque” rules and procedures, some of which are presently under challenge in the Supreme Court. 

Speaking on the functioning of both Houses of Parliament, she alleged that the Leaders of the Opposition are not allowed to speak and the treasury benches are often found creating disturbance in a bid to not allow the Congress to raise their issues.

“It is a matter of grave concern to our democracy that the LoP in the Lok Sabha is not permitted to speak. Similarly, time and again, the LoP in the Rajya Sabha, Khargeji, is also not allowed to say what he wants to say and indeed must say.

“Like you, I have been witness to how the House gets adjourned not because of us but because of the protests by the treasury benches themselves. This is quite extraordinary and shocking design to prevent the Opposition from raising their concerns that would put the government on the spot,” she asserted.

Noting that the BJP members aggressively target Congress-ruled state governments with “total falsehoods”, she urged party MPs to be equally aggressive and raise the failures and misgovernance in BJP-ruled states. “This will mean much more pointed homework and research on our part,” she noted.

The CPP chairperson said Congress MPs have effectively highlighted the real state of the economy and have exposed the vast gap between what the Modi government claims and what the overwhelming reality is in relation to price rise, unemployment and growing inequalities.

She also lauded the role played by Congress leaders who are chairpersons of Parliamentary committees for providing forceful leadership. “You have used these reports to build a larger consensus to hold the Union government to account. This is especially so in agriculture, rural development and education sectors,” she said.

Sonia, however, said their demands for a debate on a number of issues of public importance have been denied by the ruling party. “Gone are the days when the ruling party was accommodative of the Opposition, when debates and discussion used to take place in both Houses, and as MPs we looked forward to them,” she noted.

She said they wanted a detailed discussion in the Lok Sabha on the working of the ministries of defence and external affairs as both these subjects are of critical importance, given the increasingly turbulent political atmosphere in our neighbourhood, but this was disallowed.

The former Congress President said the opposition party has been seeking a discussion in both the Houses on the grave challenges posed by China on our borders and the “shocking clean chit” given to it by the Prime Minister on June 19, 2020. The Congress leader urged party MPs to reinforce outside the Parliament the issues of dilution of RTI, MGNREGA, Forest Rights Act and the Land Acquisition Act.