In 1950, no one minded Hindu gods on pages of Constitution: Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad
Ahmedabad, Sep 11: Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on Wednesday that if a BJP government had illustrated the Constitution with Hindu iconography, there would have been a hue and cry, but it was not found amiss in 1950.
Displaying an original copy of the Constitution, gifted to him in 2000 by then parliamentary affairs minister Pramod Mahajan, Prasad also said the framers of the Constitution did not expressly term the country as secular as they knew the soul of India is secular.
Renowned painter Nand Lal Bose illustrated the pages of the Constitution with images of Hindu gods and goddesses besides those of Buddha, Mahavir and historical figures, as it was decided that it should reflect our cultural heritage, the Union Law Minister said.
He was addressing a "national unity mission" event organised by the city unit of the BJP.
"Suppose we were to frame the Constitution today and we were to put these images on its pages, a hue and cry would have erupted that India is becoming a Hindu nation, secularism is being done away with," he said.
"The framers of our Constitution did not call our country secular, because they knew the soul of our country is secular. Like the Rig Veda says, `Truth is one, scholars define it differently'," he said.
"You respect my path of truth, I respect your path, because all the paths lead to one `Satchidanand'. This is India's imagination," the BJP leader added.
Speaking about abrogation of Article 370 which gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Prasad recalled the role played by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first home minister, in ensuring merger of princely states.
The state of Hyderabad would have turned into a "Palestine" had Patel not united it with India, he said.
"Had Patel not been there, Somnath temple would have faced the same trouble like Ayodhya, and had he lived long, even the Ayodhya temple issue would have been resolved," he said.
The temple at Somnath, destroyed by Muslim invaders centuries ago, was rebuilt after Independence.
Injustice was done to Patel as he was honoured with Bharat Ratna 41 years after his death, he said.
"They said Article 370 was a bridge to unite (Kashmir with rest of India). Article 370 was not a bridge but a platform for separatism and terrorism. While Article 370 was in force, 42,000 people were killed," the Union minister said.
"Between 2009 and 2019, Rs 2.70 lakh crore were given to Kashmir. The result was separatism and stone-pelting. If so many people were being killed, money was being misused, shouldn't it have been stopped? Article 370, which was temporary, was (therefore) removed," he said.
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Supreme Court grants anticipatory bail to Pawan Khera in Assam Police FIR
New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Friday granted anticipatory bail to Congress leader Pawan Khera in connection with an FIR registered by the Assam Police.
The case arose from a complaint filed by Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, over allegations made by Khera that she possessed multiple passports.
A bench comprising Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice AS Chandurkar delivered the judgment after reserving orders on Khera’s petition challenging the dismissal of his anticipatory bail plea by the Gauhati High Court.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court observed that the High Court’s findings were not based on a proper appreciation of the material on record and appeared to be erroneous, particularly in shifting the burden onto the accused.
The bench further held that the High Court erred in making observations regarding an offence under Section 339 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, noting that the FIR did not contain any such allegation. It stated that such conclusions could not have been drawn merely on the basis of submissions made by the Advocate General.
