Stepping up his attack on BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde’s statement that the BJP needed more than 400 Lok Sabha seats to change the Constitution, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on March 11 asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his “silence” on the issue and dared him to expel Mr. Hegde.
The Congress chief cautioned the BJP that any attempt to “change or rewrite the Constitution would cause an upheaval”.
The party will start a nationwide campaign from Tuesday to highlight the BJP’s bias against secularism and social justice to the poor and oppressed classes, as enshrined in the Constitution.
“Why is Prime Minister Modi keeping silent on the issue. Several leaders have made such remarks in the past and this is not the first time that a BJP or RSS leader has talked about amending the Constitution. Why should the Prime Minister allow BJP leaders to speak like this. He should clarify,” Mr. Kharge said at a press conference, flanked by senior leaders Jairam Ramesh and Mukul Wasnik.
“If he [the PM] has the courage he should speak out against those who make such remarks. They [the BJP] are against social justice and secularism enshrined in the Constitution. This is not a good mindset, this will create upheaval in the country if you want to change the Constitution,” the Congress chief added.
Asked what kind of upheaval, Mr. Kharge said the poor would not remain calm if social justice was denied to them. ”If the BJP continues to speak with such mindset, the people are watching them, their remarks, views and sentiments and will decide accordingly in 2024 elections,” he added.
Two ideologies
Former party chief Rahul Gandhi said the Prime Minister’s silence on the BJP MP’s statement of “changing the Constitution is dangerous”.
“The electoral contest now is between two ideologies! Constitution or unconstitution, social justice or exploitation, secularism or communalism, civil rights or helpless people, freedom of speech or fearful silence, love or hate, diversity or monopoly, just order or dictatorial injustice. Changing the Constitution, India’s most precious heritage obtained from the struggle for independence, means pushing the country towards slavery. The decision on the future of the coming generations is now in your hands,” Mr. Gandhi said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Mr. Kharge claimed that the Constitution had not been fully accepted by the BJP, and recalled how Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat spoke against reservations. The Congress chief claimed that the RSS was even against the national flag and the Ashok Chakra, and always preferred the saffron flag over the national Tricolour.
“If anyone in my party makes such remarks [about Constiution] I will remove him, if they [BJP] have courage they should do it.... If they believe in B.R. Ambedkar, they should remove such people from their party and not give them tickets. Unless Modi sahib does not agree, how can anyone speak like this...,” he noted.
On whether the opposition parties of the INDIA bloc are together on the issue, Mr. Kharge said, “We are fighting together and we will continue to fight together.” He said the INDIA parties had been fighting against unemployment, price rise, and issues of farmers and the youth, and would continue to fight together.
To a question whether the Congress is seeking polls to be conducted under ballot paper, the Congress chief said the party wanted voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) with EVMs and counting of 100% of the VVPAT slips.
To a question on electoral bonds, he said the Modi government was “only trying to hide its black deeds”.
