The special session of the Haryana Assembly to mark the Constitution Day witnessed a brief ruckus on Tuesday when Congress MLA Kiran Choudhary referred to the political developments in Maharashtra as a "sad travesty".
During her speech in the House, Choudhary said everyone could see what was happening in Maharashtra.
"Everyone can see what is happening in Maharashtra. It is something we have been reading for the past more than 10 days. It is a sad travesty that when constitutional heads bend backwards to please their political masters and thus, they subvert the Constitution," she said.
As soon as the Tosham MLA had said this, state Home Minister Anil Vij got up and said that during the period when President's rule was imposed in Maharashtra, Congress and Shiv Sena had got enough time to stake claim if they wanted.
Attacking the Congress, Vij said, "On June 25, 1975, Indira Gandhi trampled the Constitution, but why don't they talk about that? People were sent behind bars, why don't you make a mention of that?"
"You are casting aspersion on constitutional heads, what wrong did he do. You should not make such irresponsible statements," he said.
Speaker Gian Chand Gupta intervened at this point, directing members to stick to their speeches on Constitution Day and not get into political controversies.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the discussion started on a good note but when things are connected with some incidents, controversies will get raked up.
"And when you talk about incidents, there are many examples in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, when Congress ruled for so long, not everything was hunky dory," he said.
Khattar also made a mention of how Bhajan Lal had managed to topple Chaudhary Devi Lal in 1979, who was all set to take oath as chief minister.
"Rather than going into such controversies, our focus is that Constitution is supreme. As many as 104 amendments have taken place in our Constitution, we don't have any objection to discussions, but if anyone takes support of incidents and refers to any party, any government or raise a question mark on anyone occupying the constitutional post, then that is not a correct thing," Khattar told the House.
Kiran Choudhary, however, said she was only speaking about Constitution and not beyond that.
"We attained freedom after a great deal of struggle by our martyrs, freedom fighters and countless unsung heroes. We have to introspect and see that 70 years down the line, where we are headed. We have to uphold the Constitution and see that nobody tampers with it.
"We are all lawmakers, we are all elected representatives and if we are not going to uphold the Constitution in letter and spirit then we will be failing in our duty and duty to the country and to the people who have elected us," she said.
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