Kumari Selja was speaking at the Induction Ceremony of Legal Department of Haryana Congress. (File)
Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja said on Saturday that the central and state governments of BJP want to impose the agenda of RSS in the country.
"Today the constitutional rights of the people are being crushed. Advocates against this will have to come forward and protect the Constitution," said Kumari Selja.
She was addressing advocates as the Chief Guest at the Induction Ceremony of the Legal Department of Haryana Congress, on Saturday. During the programme, appointment letters were also formally handed over to the newly appointed office bearers of the department.
Addressing the function, Ms Selja said that since the independence of the country till now, lawyers have made an incomparable contribution to the development of the country.
"Before independence, whether we talk about Lala Lajpat Rai or Mahatma Gandhi, the first Prime Minister of the country, Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of the Constitution, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar or Iron Man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, all of them acted as advocates for the independence and development of the country and made big contributions.
"But ever since the BJP government was formed, there has been a campaign to implement the RSS agenda bypassing the Constitution. The Constitution is being blown away. Even the constitutional institutions of the country, whether it is the Election Commission or the CBI, ED, Income Tax Department or the Judiciary, are being used against the opponents by interfering with the constitutionally guaranteed rights of all of them," she said.
She said that the way lawyers had contributed in the freedom of the country in the past, in the same way even today lawyers have to come forward and contribute in protecting the Constitution so that the existence of these constitutional institutions can be saved and BJP could not do any kind of tampering with the Constitution," she said.
Kumari Selja said that so far the internet has been banned 16 times in Haryana in districts like Jind, Panipat, Kaithal and Kurukshetra. India is far ahead in the world in terms of internet ban.
"The internet has been banned about 32 times in the country so far this year. Due to the shutdown of internet service, not only the common man has to face problems, but the economic system of the country also has to suffer a lot. In 2020, there was internet ban for 8,927 hours due to which the government has suffered financial loss of about Rs 20,000 crores. (Prime Minister) Modi ji and his Hindu nationalist BJP government are directly to blame for all this," said the Haryana Congress chief.
"Under (PM) Modi's watch, human rights groups have been under pressure, journalists and activists are being threatened and there has been a flurry of attacks against Muslims in particular. This has led to the loss of political and civil liberties in the country. The degradation of freedom of expression, media and civil society has reached the forefront during (PM) Modi's rule. India is becoming an autocratic country," said Ms Selja.
The special guest Vipul Maheshwari said that the way BJP is bringing new rules, laws and policies, the basic spirit of the Constitution is in danger.
"The BJP is passing such bills using the power of their numbers in parliament, which is a direct attack on the Constitution. He said that only advocates can stand strong against such laws. It is also the job of lawyers that they should protect the rights given by the Constitution while interpreting the Constitution and not only register their protest against the laws being made against the Constitution, but also make other people aware by holding seminars from time to time," said Maheshwari.
Presiding over the function, State Chairman Advocate Lal Bahadur Khowal said that lawyers are considered to be the leaders of the intelligentsia.
"In such a situation, it also becomes our duty to protect the rights of the poor, weak, needy and exploited sections in an organizational way. He called upon the advocates present to start such a campaign in the country and the state, whose direct benefit reaches the concerned section. Along with making people aware of their rights, expose the RSS inspired agenda of BJP and unite them so that the unconstitutional policies of BJP can be fought firmly," said Mr Khowal.
Apart from this, the leaders who addressed on the occasion included former Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan, former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Ramkishan Gujjar, Sudha Bhardwaj, President, Haryana Mahila Congress, Gurtej Grewal, President, Punjab Congress Legal Cell, Anmol Ratna Sidhu, former President, Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association, Shri Birender Rana, Senior Advocate, Punjab Haryana High Court and Kiran Bala Jain.
Earlier, State Chairman of Legal Department, Haryana, Advocate Lal Bahadur Khowal and his team gave a rousing welcome to the Chief Guest, Kumari Selja, and Vipul Maheshwari, the National General Secretary of the Department, by giving flowers, garlands and bouquets.
In addition to the newly appointed office bearers of Legal Cell, Rohit Jain, Treasurer Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, former MLA Jasbir Mallour, Pratap Chaudhary, Jagannath, Media Coordinator Nilay Saini, Randhir Rana, State Spokesperson Sanjeev Bhardwaj, Ramesh Bamal and Balmukund Sharma were also present.