Constitution debate: Priyanka checks Modi govt on Sambhal, caste census, EVMs, Adani

Congress general secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra concluded her maiden speech in the Lok Sabha to peals of laughter, having invited the treasury benches to conduct a vote — by ballot paper — on contentious political issues, in accordance with India's constitutional value of democracy. "Doodh ka doodh, pani ka pani ho jayega (all will be sorted, literally, 'the milk and the water will be separated')," she said.

The new Congress MP for Wayanad, Kerala, was speaking at the Constitution debate, marking the 75th anniversary of its adoption by the nation.

As the first speaker from the Opposition bench, she addressed a wide range of issues, including the Sambhal violence, the demand for a caste census, the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Modi–Adani nexus and the government’s focus on invoking the past incessantly to score points while ignoring the problems of the present that are crying out for resolution.

On the caste census, Priyanka Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of dismissing the Opposition’s demand which was merely an amplification of the will of the people.

"When the entire Opposition was calling for a caste census during the elections, Narendra Modi’s response was to say we were out to steal your buffalo and your mangalsutra," she remarked, highlighting the government's lack of seriousness on the issue.

At the time, Gandhi Vadra had also retorted that if Modi truly valued a woman's sacrifices and her mangalsutra, he wouldn't make such "immoral remarks" lightly.

She had reminded the prime minister that it was her mother whose mangalsutra was sacrificed to the nation's altar (referring to her father's assassination while Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister) and that it was her grandmother Indira Gandhi who had donated her own jewellery in times of war.

Raising the issue of the recent Sambhal violence, Priyanka said innocent people were killed by the police in a context where communal prejudices were fanned.

"There were two boys among them — Adnan and Uzair. One of them was my son's age and the other was younger, 17 years of age," she told the House. "Their father was a tailor. The tailor had just one dream: that he would get his children educated. One son would become a doctor and the other too would be successful. The police shot their father dead.

"The 17-year-old Adnan told me that he would grow up to be a doctor and realise his father's dream. This dream and hope was instilled in his heart by the Constitution of India."

The Congress leader also took the opportunity to draw attention to the controversy around the alleged ties between the BJP government and industrialist Gautam Adani, the 'Modani nexus' as the Opposition has dubbed it — a topic the INDIA bloc parties have been demanding a discussion on and a JPC probe into for a while now.

Criticising the government's favoritism towards the Adani group and contrasting the Modi regime's record with people's demands, she said, "One favoured, 142 crore ignored."

She accused the Modi administration of prioritising the interests of a single individual at the cost of the nation’s welfare, saying, "The country’s wealth, airports and land are being handed over to benefit one person, while the 142 crore citizens are left to suffer. This blatant misuse of public resources is unacceptable."

On the issue of EVMs, another contentious topic of the times, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra expressed scepticism about the integrity of the current election process, saying, "Cast your vote on the ballot and everything will be clear." This comment was seen as a critique of the reliance on EVMs and their potential for manipulation.

She also criticised the ruling BJP’s tendency to blame the past, particularly India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, for the country’s current issues.

"My colleagues in the ruling party mostly talk about the past. They keep saying, 'This happened during Nehru’s time! What did Nehru-ji do?' But why not talk about the present? What are you doing now? What is your responsibility? Or does all the responsibility lie with Jawaharlal Nehru-ji?" she asked, challenging the government to focus on current problems instead of deflecting blame to her great-grandfather.

Earlier in the day, while initiating a debate in the Lok Sabha on the 'Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India', defence minister Rajnath Singh had criticised the "deliberate neglect" of the contributions by several leaders in the making of the Constitution. He accused "one particular party", meaning the Congress, of consistently attempting to "hijack and appropriate" the credit for framing the Constitution.

Several observers seem impressed with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's speech, a pointed attack on the Modi government's policies and its handling of key national issues, upholding the agenda of the Congress party as the largest opposition unit in Parliament and a vocal unit of the INDIA bloc.

Congress president and Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge praised Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's maiden speech in the Lok Sabha, calling it an "excellent speech".

"Very good. She put all the facts before the government-how the Constitution is being misused and how they are not protecting women and the people of this country. We are very happy about her performance," Kharge said.