Karnataka govt installed two large plaques containing the Constitution's Preamble inside the Assembly.
Photo Credit: Department of Information and Public Relations/Government of Karnataka
Bengaluru, DHNS: Speaker UT Khader’s initiative to install two large plaques containing the Constitution's Preamble inside the Assembly became a firestarter, leading to a heated exchange that touched upon the Emergency, gangster Haji Mastan and the Godhra riots.
Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka hailed Khader for bringing the Preamble inside the Assembly. “Looking at it gives us inspiration to carry out our duty as the Opposition,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar bantered that Ashoka, at last, found inspiration to work as per the Constitution.
Unamused, Ashoka said: “You (Congress) finished the Constitution by imposing the Emergency in 1975.”
This led to din even as Shivakumar insisted that the Emergency did not dent the Congress’ prospects. “Indira Gandhi came back. Then, it was Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh,” he said.
This compelled senior BJP lawmaker S Suresh Kumar to respond. “I’m a victim of the Emergency. I was at the receiving end of your hospitality...at the High Grounds police station. It was there I first boarded an ‘airplane’,” he said, using police lingo for rough treatment.
“Yes, Indira Gandhi came back in 1977. We also know how Rajiv Gandhi came to power in 1984. But you’ll never be able to come out of the shadow of the Emergency,” Kumar said.
The comment triggered the ruling Congress with Higher Education Minister Dr MC Sudhakar retorting that the ghost of the Godhra riots in Gujarat continues to haunt the BJP.
Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao added that there was an “undeclared Emergency” in the last 10 years.
Khader lamented that the Preamble of all things caused a squabble in the Assembly. “We can have a daylong discussion on what happened. Opinions will be expressed. I have my own opinion,” he said. “When I was young, smugglers ruled the coastal belt from Gujarat to Trivandrum. It was during the Emergency under Indira Gandhi that big smugglers like Haji Mastan and Karim Lala were put in jail,” he said, and was accused by the BJP of defending the Emergency.