Jaitley targets Nehru, says he restricted free speech

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday targeted former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the first amendment to the Constitution in 1951, "restricting" free speech.

Jaitley claimed Nehru did it to clamp down on Jan Sangh leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee's advocacy of "Akhand Bharat".

In his latest Facebook post on the occasion of Mookerji's birth anniversary, Jaitley referred to the protest in Jawaharlal Nehru University where slogans on Kashmir were raised and said the "major paradox" of the amendment was that a mere speech by Mookerjee advocating "Akhand Bharat" or United India was considered a "threat" to the country.

"In the past 70 years, this country has witnessed a change in the situation where Nehru amended the Constitution so that a demand for 'Akhand Bharat' could incite a war and therefore should be prohibited. On the contrary, we all were told that to advocate a breakup of the country without inciting violence is legitimate free speech," Jaitley said.

Finding fault with the first amendment, "which restricted free speech in the interest of friendly relations with foreign states", Jaitley said Mookerjee had resigned from the Nehru Cabinet opposing the Nehru-Liaquat Pact and took a strong position in public against it. Nehru was of the opinion that Mookerjee's advocacy of "Akhand Bharat would lead to war".

"Nehru overreacted to Mookerjee's criticism" and asked the then home minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel to consider what action could be taken. Patel, according to Jaitley, said only through an amendment could it be curbed. Nehru then went ahead with introducing the amendment in Parliament.

Though some prominent leaders like H V Kamath, Acharya Kripalini, Mookerjee and Nazuruddin Ahmed opposed it, he said Nehru went ahead and got it passed. "Was this intolerance against Mookerjee and his philosophy which triggered this Constitution amendment? The answer is obvious," Jaitley said.

"The paradox in our jurisprudential evolution is that we have applied a different yardstick to those who want to dismember India and commit an offence of sedition. This debate recently came into forefront during the 'Tukde Tukde' agitation at the Jawaharlal Nehru University," Jaitley said.