UNION MINISTER CALLS FOR REVISITING CONSTITUTION

NEWDELHI: Union minister of state for human resource development, Satya Pal Singh, on Saturday called on people to “revisit our constitution” and highlighted the rights enjoyed by minorities in the country. Singh was speaking at a Delhi University event organised to commemorate the 127th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar on Saturday.

The programme — “The rule of law and the role of BR Ambedkar in nation-building,” saw Singh speaking as the chief guest. The other guests present included, Upendra Baxi, the former vicechancellor of Delhi University, Manoj Sinha, director of the Indian Law Institute Delhi, and Suresh Chandra, the law secretary. Singh said that rule of law basically meant that the law being equal to all.

“Everybody has a right to religion. That is the kind of freedom that has been given to minorities. Yet they feel cheated about it. Perhaps in the last few decades the way our constitution has been interpreted, our law has been interpreted, it requires a revisit. Let us revisit our law. Let us revisit our constitution,” he said.

He spoke of how laws need to have more “teeth” if we want a “strong democratic republic country,” where “everyone gets justice” and “everybody gets educated.”

He said how differential treatment may be necessary to ensure justice. “Somebody who has committed theft of ₹100, gets the same kind of punishment as somebody who has theft of ₹100 crore. But does it really give justice to society? I say it doesn’t,” he said, while making a case for amending laws.

SATYA PAL SINGH SAID THAT RULE OF LAW BASICALLY MEANT

THE LAW BEING EQUAL FOR ALL