Prime Minister Narendra Modi came down heavily on the Congress on Thursday and accused the party of adopting only “symbolism” to solve the country’s problems. Accused Congress of “misusing” Article 356 90 times.
PM Modi was replying to the discussion on the motion of thanks on President Draupadi Murmu’s address in the Rajya Sabha. As he rose to speak, opposition MPs, some holding placards, shouted slogans against PM Modi and demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe into allegations made by US short-seller Hindenburg Research against tycoon Gautam Adani You have come to the well.
Know here what PM Modi said
In his fiery 90-minute speech, PM Modi accused the Congress of “misusing” Article 356 of the Constitution and trampling on the rights of states and regional parties by dismissing elected governments on 90 occasions. “Who are the people?” He asked and replied that Indira Gandhi alone had used the Article 50 times to dismiss governments.
“This country is not anyone’s fiefdom. Our policies reflect national and regional aspirations,” he said. “But these people who are sitting (with the Congress) now, I want to expose them today.
He then pointed out how the elected Left governments in Kerala, NT Rama Rao in Andhra Pradesh, Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra and MG Ramachandran in Tamil Nadu were dismissed by the Congress. And today these parties are sitting with the Congress.
“The Congress trampled on the federal structure of India. Congress has misused Article 356 90 times. Indira Gandhi misused Article 356 50 times… She harassed regional leaders. He toppled the Sharad Pawar led government and tried to topple the NTR led government when he was in the US for treatment. Congress has toppled many elected governments in the past: PM Modi
The Prime Minister also alleged that the Congress had committed sins in the past and was now trying to mislead the country.
What is Article 356?
Under Article 356 of the Constitution, President’s Rule can be imposed in a State in case of failure of the constitutional machinery, if the President, on receipt of a report from the Governor of the State or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the Government of the State cannot Cannot be done as per the provisions of the constitution.
This article was used for the first time in Punjab in 1951. Chhattisgarh and Telangana are the only states where President’s rule has not been imposed so far. Wikipedia,
Earlier, this practice was very often (mis)used, but was limited only after the Supreme Court laid down strict guidelines for the imposition of President’s rule in 1994 in its judgment on the SR Bommai vs Union of India case .
President’s rule is imposed in any state when –
• A State Legislature is unable to elect a leader as the Chief Minister for a period determined by the Governor of that State at the discretion of the Governor.
• Breakdown of the coalition shall result in the Chief Minister having minority support in the House and the Chief Minister failing/definitely failing to prove otherwise within the time fixed by the Governor of that State.
Loss of majority in the assembly due to a motion of no confidence in the house.
• Postponement of elections due to unavoidable reasons like war, pandemic, epidemic or natural calamities.
• If the state’s constitutional machinery or legislature fails to comply with constitutional norms, if so called on the report of the governor of the state.
President’s rule can continue for six months with the approval of both the Houses. It can be extended every six months with the approval of the Parliament for a maximum period of three years.
‘Dead letter of the constitution’
Bhimrao Ambedkar, chairman of the drafting committee of the Constitution of India, called Article 356 the “dead letter of the Constitution”. In the Constituent Assembly debate, it was suggested that Article 356 could be “misused for political gains”. ,
Ambedkar replied, “I share the sentiments that such articles will never be implemented and they will remain a dead letter. If they are implemented, I hope that the President, who is endowed with these powers , will take due care before actually suspending the administration of the provinces. I hope the first thing he will do is simply to warn the province which has made a mistake, that things are not going the way they should that the Constitution required it to be. If that warning failed, the second thing for him would be to order an election so that the people of the province could decide the matter themselves. When both these remedies failed, then only he could take recourse to the article.”
(With inputs from PTI and Wikipedia)
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