Patna: Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday said that the Congress, RJD and the JD-U should stop misleading the people to paper over their failures, as they were the ones who ruled Bihar since independence and left it at the bottom of the table on all human development indices.

“Even the demand to get the two reservation laws included in the ninth schedule is misleading as there is already a clear judgment of the Supreme Court in this regard. The Apex Court has ruled that any law inserted in the Ninth can also be challenged,” he said.

“A law that abrogates or abridges rights guaranteed by Part-III of the Constitution may violate the basic structure doctrine or it may not. If former is the consequence of the law, whether by amendment of any article of Part III or by any insertion in the Ninth Schedule, such law will have to be invalidated in exercise of judicial review power of the court,” Modi said quoting the SC order by the Constitution bench presided by Justice YK Sabharwal.

The nine-judge bench had delivered a unanimous verdict on January 11, 2007 in Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu and others case, upholding the ‘Basic Structure Doctrine’, and the authority of the judiciary to review any such laws , which destroy or damage the basic structure as indicated in Art.21 read with Art.14, Art.19 and the principles underlying there under, even if they have been put in 9th Schedule after April 14, 1973. This case is popularly known as The Ninth Schedule Case.

Also Read: Special status demand like flogging a dead horse: Sushil Modi

Modi said that the BJP was also never against the special status demand for Bihar, but when there is no such provision anymore for any state, what is the point making a demand that is just not possible.

“It is just to shift responsibility. Those who have ruled Bihar since independence will have to take the responsibility for the mess the state finds itself in today. It was (RJD leader) Lalu Prasad who prevented special status to Bihar when it was possible and Tejashwi Yadav should first ask his father why he did so,” he added.

He said that Bihar should work out ways to augment its own resources and the minimum it could do was to stop giving patronage to liquor and sand mafia. “This alone will save the state over ₹20000-crore. Making election stunts will do no good to Bihar as the people also know this,” he added.

Modi said that the most prosperous states of the country never got special status, but they prospered. “If Bihar wants to give ₹2.5-lakh to every poor family, it should first make arrangement for the funds and then make promises. Distributing appointment letters without making arrangement of required funds and blaming Centre every time will not serve any purpose. The state should first try to augment its resources and then make lofty announcements,” he added.