New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday used the Rajya Sabha debate on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, to launch an ideological counter offensive on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), stating that the genesis of the two-nation theory in India lies with Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, when the Hindu Mahasabha leader declared in 1943 that he had “no problems with (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah's two-nation theory."
Opening the debate for the Opposition in the upper House of Parliament, Congress' Anand Sharma said, "The two-nation theory of Partition was not propounded by the Congress. The Hindu Mahasabha passed a resolution in its Ahmedabad session in 1937. It was chaired by Savarkarji. One year later, the Muslim League in its plenary passed the Partition of India resolution. Fazlul Haq moved the resolution, who later become their ally."
Sharma was responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's assertion in the Lok Sabha in an intervention during debate on the citizenship Bill.
Shah had said on Monday, "The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill wouldn't have been needed had the Congress not allowed Partition on basis of religion. It was the Congress that divided the country on religious lines, not us."
"In the other House, you have put the blame on those INC leaders who spent time in jail, made sacrifices. It was under the leadership of Gandhiji," Sharma said.
"The Second World War had started. Gandhiji had given a call for the ‘Quit India’ movement. Congress leaders were incarcerated. Only these two organisations came forward — Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League. They gave letters to Viceroy Linlithgow and said we will help in the formation of governments in provinces loyal to her majesty’s government. Wasn't a government formed in Bengal and Punjab," Sharma said, while accusing the government of trying to re-write the history.
Sharma also highlighted the haste with which the government was trying to pass the Bill in Parliament.
“Jaldbaaziu kyun (What’s the hurry)? You should have referred it to a standing committee of Parliament and introduced it in the next session," he said.
"We are opposing it and the reason for that is not political, but constitutional and moral. I am convinced the bill which you have brought is an assault on the foundational values of our Constitution," he said, adding that "it hurts the soul of Republic of India" and fails the "morality" test.
Former Union law minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also lashed out at the central government for bringing in an "arbitrary executive fiat" in the form of the citizenship Bill.
Chidambaram said the bill was destined to land in the court of law. And because "unelected judges and unelected lawyers" would ultimately decide the future of this law, it was "a slap on the Parliament." He said he was "absolutely certain" that the law would be struck down.
He also challenged the government to produce the advice of the ministry of law or the solicitor general from where the Union Home Ministry had sought legal advice on the issue.
"Somebody will have to take responsibility to answer these questions," he said, adding, "I dare the government to lay opinion of the law department. (The ruling party is) wrecking the Constitution from within. It is an insidious bill."
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