Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole has said “traitors” from the party who cross-voted in the recent elections to 11 legislative council seats have been identified and will be punished.

“The same “traitors” had ensured the defeat of the Congress leader Chandrakant Handore in the council elections two years ago,” Mr. Patole claimed on July 13.

“A trap was laid this time and they have been identified. They will be punished so that no one dares to betray the party again,” Mr. Patole told reporters in Mumbai, without taking any name.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, while talking to reporters on July 14, said the Congress has accepted that cross-voting took place and they will take action accordingly.

“The Central government is going to observe the imposition of Emergency as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’. Isn’t it unconstitutional to get MLCs elected by MLAs who are facing disqualification? Isn’t it unconstitutional to purchase MLAs by bribing them? BJP is the real murderer of the Constitution,” Mr. Raut alleged.

Following a split in the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Shiv Sena (UBT) headed by Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) had moved court seeking disqualification of MLAs of the parties led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

The ruling ‘Mahyuti’ in the State, comprising the Shiv Sena led by CM Shinde, the BJP and Ajit Pawar-headed NCP, on July 12 won all the nine seats it contested in the biennial elections to 11 seats in the legislative council.

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) faced a setback as a candidate backed by Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) lost. At least seven Congress MLAs defied the party’s directive while voting, results showed.

“The Congress, which has 37 MLAs, had fixed a quota of 30 first preference votes for its candidate Pradyna Satav, and seven remaining votes were to go to Milind Narvekar, candidate of the ally Shiv Sena (UBT),” party sources earlier said.

Eventually, Mr. Satav got 25 and Narvekar 22 first preference votes, which meant at least seven Congress MLAs cross-voted. Jayant Patil of the Peasants and Workers’ Party (PWP), supported by the NCP (SP), lost.

The 288-member legislative Assembly, with current strength of 274, was the electoral college for the council polls. Each winning candidate required 23 votes.

The BJP is the largest party in the Assembly with 103 members, followed by the Shiv Sena-38, NCP- 42, Congress-37, Shiv Sena (UBT)-15 and NCP (SP)-10.

New Delhi:

Keeping up its attack on the Congress over the Emergency, the government announced on Friday that June 25 will be observed every year as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’, which loosely translates to ‘the day the Constitution was killed’. 

Making the announcement on X, Home Minister Amit Shah posted a gazette notification and wrote, “On June 25, 1975, the then PM Indira Gandhi, in a brazen display of a dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of our democracy by imposing the Emergency on the nation. Lakhs of people were thrown behind bars for no fault of their own, and the voice of the media was silenced.”

“The Government of India has decided to observe the 25th of June every year as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas.’ This day will commemorate the massive contributions of all those who endured the inhuman pains of the 1975 Emergency,” he added.

On June 25, 1975, the then PM Indira Gandhi, in a brazen display of a dictatorial mindset, strangled the soul of our democracy by imposing the Emergency on the nation. Lakhs of people were thrown behind bars for no fault of their own, and the voice of the media was silenced.

The… pic.twitter.com/9sEfPGjG2S

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) July 12, 2024

The decision made by the government led by PM Shri @narendramodi Ji is intended to honor the spirit of millions who struggled to revive democracy despite facing inexplicable persecution at the hands of an oppressive government.

The observance of ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’ will…

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) July 12, 2024

PM Narendra Modi also posted on X and said the day will serve as a reminder of the Constitution being trampled over. 

“To observe 25th June as #SamvidhaanHatyaDiwas will serve as a reminder of what happens when the Constitution of India was trampled over. It is also a day to pay homage to each and every person who suffered due to the excesses of the Emergency, a Congress unleashed dark phase of Indian history,” the PM wrote. 

To observe 25th June as #SamvidhaanHatyaDiwas will serve as a reminder of what happens when the Constitution of India was trampled over. It is also a day to pay homage to each and every person who suffered due to the excesses of the Emergency, a Congress unleashed dark phase of… https://t.co/om14K8BiTz

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 12, 2024

The Congress has hit back and accused the BJP of indulging in “yet another headline grabbing exercise in hypocrisy”.

‘400 Paar’ And Congress Claims

Throughout Narendra Modi’s tenure as Prime Minister, the Congress and other opposition parties have accused the BJP and the Central government of violating the Constitution as well as weakening constitutional institutions, including the election commission and the judiciary.

They got more ammunition when, in the months leading up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Karnataka BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde and the party’s Meerut candidate Arun Govil, among others, said that the NDA had set itself a target of winning 400 seats because it wanted to amend the Constitution. 

The opposition, which had come together under the INDIA umbrella, seized on the opportunity to claim that the BJP wanted to end reservation and “dismantle” the Constitution. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and others also began carrying a copy of the foundational document and stated repeatedly that the INDIA alliance was fighting to protect the Constitution. 

As the INDIA narrative began to gain traction, the BJP and the government went into damage-control mode, claiming that the opposition was spreading lies. The issue did, however, work to the INDIA alliance’s favour in several states and played a role in limiting the BJP to 240 Lok Sabha seats and the NDA to 293. 

Counter Attack

Going on the offensive, the BJP repeatedly brought up the Emergency to claim that it was the Congress that had violated the Constitution.

On June 25 this year, PM Modi led the attack, posting on X, “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.”

“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 wrote, adding that the mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency was “very much alive among the same party which imposed it”.

Amit Shah also tweeted that the Congress has a history of murdering democracy.

The Constitution and the Emergency also dominated the special session of Parliament, which began on June 24. Rahul Gandhi carried a copy of the Constitution with him while taking oath as an MP and his Congress colleague, Shashi Tharoor, said ‘Jai Samvidhan’ after he was sworn in. 

The Emergency was a part of President Droupadi Murmu’s address to a joint sitting of Parliament as well. 

“Today is 27th June. The imposition of Emergency on 25th June, 1975, was the biggest and darkest chapter of direct attack on the Constitution. The entire country felt outraged. But the country emerged victorious over such unconstitutional forces as the traditions of the republic lie at the core of India,” she had said, amid cheers from NDA members and protests by the opposition.