Mahua: Govt wants to alter history

‘They are fearful of the future, they mistrust the present’

This government wants to alter history. They are fearful of the future and they mistrust the present. The President, early on in his address, spoke about freedom fighters who secured India’s rights. But this is just lip service.

— Mahua Moitra, Trinamul MP

In a fiery speech, Trinamul Congress Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra accused the Centre of trying to alter history and using the names of freedom fighters for mere “lipservice”.

“This government wants to alter history. They are fearful of the future and they mistrust the present. The President, early on in his address, spoke about freedom fighters who secured India’s rights. But this is just lip service. You fear a future India which is comfortable in its own skin, which is comfortable with conflicting realities. You are not content with just the vote, you want to get inside our heads, inside our homes, to tell us what to eat, what to wear, who to love. But your fear alone cannot keep the future at bay, she said while speaking in Lok Sabha during the Motion of Thanks to the President.

She said the President’s address is an assessment of the state of the Union today and she vehemently disagrees with that assessment. “I stand here today to ask the most important question that faces us all what is the kind of republic that we want, what is the India that we want today? Ours is a living constitution, it breathes as long as we are willing to breathe life into it. Otherwise, it is just a piece of paper, black and white, that can be smudged into shades of grey by any majoritarian government,” Ms Moitra said.

Raising the issue of snooping she said, “The way the masters of our Republic mistrusts the present is most acutely illustrated by the Pegasus mess... The government stands accused of spending taxpayers money to buy technology to spy on its own citizens,” she alleged. She further said that the government “mistrusts very soul of Republic when it brings in an act to link Aadhaar card to the right to vote, because you are creating enourmous possibilities to disenfranchise genuine voters.”

Raising the communal statements made by right winged elements, she said Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose woul have never approved the statements made in the Dharam Sansad in Haridwar.