Constitution's basic ideals, principles under threat: Sonia Gandhi

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday targeted the government on issue of intolerance alleging that ideals and principles of the Constitution were under threat and being attacked deliberately.

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday targeted the government on issue of intolerance alleging that ideals and principles of the Constitution were under threat and being attacked deliberately.

"People who never had faith in the Constitution, nor had they participated in its drafting, are now swearing by it and are laying claim to it.

"They are now having a discussion on commitment to it. There cannot be a bigger joke than this," she said, utilising the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the commitment to the Constitution as part of 125th birth anniversary celebrations of B R Ambedkar to attack the BJP.

Insisting that whatever being witnessed over the past few months was "totally against the principles" of the Constitution, she recalled Ambedkar's warning to hit out at the ruling dispensation, as she sought to highlight the contribution of the Congress in the drafting of the Constitution and in the freedom struggle.

She said Ambedkar had observed that howsoever good a Constitution may be, if those implementing it were bad people, then the ultimate effect would only be bad.

At a time when BJP is seeking to appropriate the legacy of Ambedkar, Gandhi also utilised Ambedkar's praise of the Congress for its contribution in the drafting of the Constitution, indicating that the Congress could lay the rightful claim on the document.

PTI