Union law and justice minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday lashed out at the RSS for questioning the constitutional validity of the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. “Those (the RSS) who do not
unfurl the national tricolour at their headquarters and buildings on Independence Day and Republic Day have no moral right to talk about the constitutional validity of NAC,” he told reporters here.
Mr Khurshid’s remarks come in the wake of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s criticism of NAC, which provides policy and legislative inputs to the government, and his Opposition to the Communal Violence Bill drafted by the Mrs Gandhi-led panel.
He said the bill would come before Parliament and “if they (RSS) want, they can defeat the bill through members (MPs) supporting their viewpoint.”
Speaking at a Dussehra rally here on October 6, Mr Bhagwat had dubbed the bill “a deceitful action of destructive minds detrimental to democratic values.”
Mr Khurshid also said the government is committed to bringing the Lokpal Bill in the Winter Session of Parliament and sought a clarification from Mr Anna Hazare on the RSS claim that it was involved in the Gandhian’s anti-corruption agitation.
“We are committed to bring the bill during the winter as per our understanding reached with Team Anna on three important aspects — citizens’ charter, bringing lower bureaucracy under the ambit of the bill and appointment of Lokayuktas in states on the lines of Lokpal at the Centre,” he said at a meet-the-press programme here. On the RSS’ assertion about its participation in Mr Hazare’s agitation, he said it was Team Anna’s turn to clarify on the claim made by the city-based Sangh fountainhead which has been dismissed by Mr Hazare. — PTI