Winter Session of Parliament: Constitution debate in Lok Sabha today amid Govt-INDIA bloc face-off

The Lok Sabha will today begin a two-day debate on the Constitution to mark the beginning of the 75th year of its adoption in the country.

Lawmakers from the government and opposition sides will speak during the debate against the backdrop of a bitter political face-off that marred the ongoing Winter Session of ParliamentJagdeep Dhankhar.

The Constitution debate will take place in the Lok Sabha on December 13 and 14, and in the Rajya Sabha on December 16 and 17.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will initiate the debate on the Constitution in the Lok Sabha, while Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to initiate a similar debate in the Rajya Sabha, government sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to reply to the two-day debate on the Constitution in the Lok Sabha on Saturday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have issued a three line whip for all its Lok Sabha members to be present in the House on December 13-14.

Special discussion on agenda

There will be a “Special discussion on the 75th anniversary of adoption of the Constitution of India,” as per the listed agenda of the Lok Sabha. The discussions will begin after the Question Hour, which is also listed in the agenda of the lower House.

Modi held a strategy meet, which was attended among others by Shah and Singh besides BJP chief JP Nadda ahead of the debate, news agency PTI reported. Earlier, Shah held a meeting with senior BJP ministers, including Nadda, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, at his office in Parliament.

The opposition Congress also held a strategy meeting at the party headquarters, which was attended by party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, besides other senior leaders, including KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh, to plan for the strategy in Parliament for the upcoming week.

The Winter Session of Parliament, which began on November 25, is likely to end on December 20. The BJP and the Congress lawmakers have traded allegations against each other over the last week, with the BJP linking the Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi to US billionaire George Soros to counter the bribery charges against the Adani Group.

Rahul to speak from Opposition side

While Rahul Gandhi was likely to start the discussion on the Constitution in the Lok Sabha on behalf of the opposition as LoP, some leaders pointed to a change of strategy and said that Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may open the debate for the opposition camp, which would be her maiden speech in the Lok Sabha.

Kharge will start the debate from the opposition side in the Rajya Sabha.

The Rajya Sabha will hold the debate on December 16 and 17, and Prime Minister Modi is expected to reply to it on Tuesday, December 17 in the upper house.

The debate on the Constitution has been the key demand of the opposition for the Winter Session of Parliament.

On November 26, 1949, the Indian Constituent Assembly formally adopted the Constitution, which came into effect on January 26, 1950, establishing India as a sovereign, democratic republic.

In 2015, the Government of India formally declared November 26 as Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas) to honour the adoption of the Indian Constitution in 1949. Since then, the nation celebrates the Constitution’s adoption annually this day.