BJP MPs did not mention Indira herself voted to remove many provisions of 42nd Amendment: Ramesh

PTI New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his colleagues mounted a “furious attack” on Indira Gandhi for the 42nd Amendment but they did not mention that she, along with other Congress MPs, voted in favour of the 44th Amendment which removed a number of provisions introduced through the 42nd Amendment, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday. Ramesh pointed out that the PM and his colleagues also did not mention the fact that many of the provisions of the 42nd Amendment have been retained ever since it was enacted almost half a century ago.

“During the discussion on the Constitution, the PM and his colleagues mounted a furious attack on Indira Gandhi for the 42nd Amendment that was passed by Parliament in December 1976,” he said in a post on X. “What they did not mention was that Indira Gandhi herself, along with other Congress MPs, then voted in favour of the 44th Amendment in December 1978, when Morarji Desai was PM,” he said. The words “socialist” and “secular” were inserted into the Preamble under the 42nd constitutional amendment.