New Delhi: Amid chants of Bharat Jodo and a copy of the Indian Constitution in his hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took the oath as a member of the Lok Sabha this afternoon. Mr Gandhi has been elected from two seats -- Wayanad and Raebareli. He has vacated the Wayanad seat that will now be contested by his sister and Congress leader, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
"I, Rahul Gandhi, having been elected a member of the House of People, do solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter. Jai Hind, Jai Samvidhan," Mr Gandhi said, taking the oath.
The Constitution booklet has emerged as a familiar sight in this Parliament session after MPs of the INDIA Opposition bloc held up the booklets in a demonstration yesterday. Several MPs from the Opposition posted photos on social media where they can be seen holding the Constitution booklet. In an interaction with the media, Mr Gandhi yesterday said that the Opposition will not allow the government to "attack the Constitution".
To counter the Congress's Constitution narrative, the BJP today launched an all-out attack on the main Opposition party. Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, top ministers of the NDA government put out social media posts to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government.
"Today is a day to pay homage to all those great men and women who resisted the Emergency. The #DarkDaysOfEmergency remind us of how the Congress Party subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution of India which every Indian respects greatly," the Prime Minister posted on X.
"Just to cling on to power, the then Congress Government disregarded every democratic principle and made the nation into a jail. Any person who disagreed with the Congress was tortured and harassed. Socially regressive policies were unleashed to target the weakest sections.
"Those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution. These are the same people who have imposed Article 356 on innumerable occasions, got a Bill to destroy press freedom, destroyed federalism and violated every aspect of the Constitution," he added.
The Prime Minister said the mindset that led to the imposition of Emergency "is very much alive among the same Party which imposed it". "They hide their disdain for the Constitution through their tokenism but the people of India have seen through their antics and that is why they have rejected them time and again," he said.