Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru (File Photo)
As soon as the new Parliament House is built, these days the first Prime Minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru And the discussion of Sangol is common. Pandit Nehru had taken over the reins of the independent country by holding Sangol. After this story came to the fore, the current politics has once again become Nehru-centric. Not only Sangol, but Nehru’s tenure and decisions have been kept in the center regarding all political issues and economic policies.
Though there are many stories of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru related to the Indian Parliament, but this story related to Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, is very memorable. The story is of 12 May 1951. The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the first amendment to the Constitution of India in the Parliament. This amendment restricted some fundamental rights including freedom of speech and the right to own property.
War of words between Nehru and Mukherjee
The debate on the First Amendment Bill of the Constitution is considered to be one of the sharpest debates. But at the same time it is also considered as the best debate in the Parliament. Actually during this time Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee were face to face, between whom there was a long war of words. All the members present in the Parliament were speechless.
In fact, the amendment was also intended to create the Ninth Schedule, which many experts called the ‘constitutional vault’ because it contained a list of laws that could not be challenged in the courts or subjected to scrutiny by the judiciary. Was.
Then Nehru made every effort to justify the First Amendment in his speech, which he had to face strong opposition from within the cabinet and the Congress as well. Nehru had said in a loud voice – You, me and the country will have to wait for a better day from social and economic difficulties and we are responsible for that. What answer will we give to the public?
Mukherjee strongly denied
Then Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee denied Nehru’s speech in the House so strongly that even the Congress MPs welcomed him. He had said that “You can pass a law and say that the whole task of making, interpreting and working the constitution will be left in the hands of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. In fact you are looking at the constitution as just a piece of paper.
Eventually, the bill was sent to a Congress-dominated Select Committee. After that, its new draft was presented in the Parliament to make law, due to which there was a war of words between Nehru and Mukherjee once again on 31 May 1951.
Nehru was compared to the Prince of Denmark
Mukherjee began speaking before the bill was put to vote again. He compared Nehru to the prince of Denmark battling imaginary troubles in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and said, “You cannot pass or amend the constitution to fight ghosts.”
Also read: What did Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru write in his will?
