Lok Sabha to begin two-day debate on the Constitution on Friday

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

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

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

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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, said government sources.

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

Ahead of the two-day debate, Prime Minister Modi held a strategy meet, which was attended among others by Shah and Singh besides BJP president J P Nadda.

Shah earlier 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 here which was attended by party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi besides other senior leaders, including K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh, to plan for the strategy in Parliament for the upcoming week.

The Winter Session of Parliament is likely to end on December 20.

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 in the upper house.

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

According to the agreement with the Opposition, the BJP-led NDA government had agreed to a debate on the Constitution on December 13-14 in the Lok Sabha and on December 16-17 in the Rajya Sabha.

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 each year on this day.