The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is consistently attempting to efface Jawaharlal Nehru from history and destroy the heterogeneous nature of the country, Congress leader A.K. Antony has said.
He was inaugurating the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Jawaharlal Nehru organised by the Nehru Centre here on Wednesday.
Mr. Antony said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah’s statement that the party lacked the two-third majority to amend the Constitution and hence could not run its agenda exposed the facade of secularism worn by those governing at the Centre.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not visited Nehru Samadhi after assuming office. Deviation from the ideals of Nehru would cost dearly for the nation which was founded on democracy, integrity, secularism, social justice, a free and independent Parliament, judiciary, and the fourth estate. A bid to replace the diversity of the nation with a homogenous culture, devoid of different caste, religion, language, and culture, would also be detrimental to the country, he said.
Mr. Antony said power was not the monopoly of any party or political combination and that was the strength of the democracy. Those who predicted disintegration of the country after independence had been proved wrong. But, time had come to firm up against the threats posed to secularism and democracy, he said.
Communist party of India (Marxist) [CPI-M] Polit Bureau member M.A. Baby said Congressmen were distancing themselves from the ideals of Nehru and the policies he had steadfastly adopted to catalyse the development of the nation.
The neo-liberal policies initiated by the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and doggedly pursued by Manmohan Singh was a clear case of deviation from Nehruvian principles, Mr. Baby said. He called upon Congressmen to shed the attitude that Nehru was beyond criticism, by citing the healthy debates between Nehru and Gandhiji.
Centre chairman M.M. Hassan and former Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan were among those who spoke.