‘Praise’ for Nehru during Delhi Bill discussion sees banter between Adhir, Amit Shah

 The Lok Sabha Thursday witnessed some light moments when Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition in the House and senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury went back and forth as the Centre defended the Bill to override a Supreme Court order on who controls bureaucrats in the country’s capital.

Defending the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, Amit Shah said that India’s founding fathers like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, C Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad and BR Ambedkar were against the idea of Delhi getting the status of a full state.

Replying to this, Chowdhury quipped: “When we came to the House today, it felt good that Amit Shah ji was repeatedly praising Nehru and the Congress party. I thought to myself, what am I seeing? Is this day or night? I thought I should run up to him and put a sweet in his mouth. Because praise for Nehru and the Congress from his mouth was a happy surprise for me.”

The comments come at a time when the Centre has been trying to push the Bill through Parliament. The Centre had promulgated the Ordinance on May 19, 2023 — eight days after the Constitution Bench of Supreme Court pronounced its judgment in the Government of NCT of Delhi v. Union of India case, granting more powers to the Delhi government over services in the national capital.