Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attacked the Congress over its accusations that the BJP will change the Constitution if voted to power for the third term, saying that the “Constitution can’t be abolished even by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar himself”.
Addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Barmer, PM Modi said, “The people of the country talk of 400 seats (for the BJP) because for 10 years, you, the Congress, constantly tried to stop me from doing good work in Parliament and so the nation wants to punish you. It has made up its mind to wipe you out.” The rally was organised in support of the BJP candidate and Union Minister of State Kailash Chaudhary, who is contesting from the Barmer Lok Sabha seat.
“Aur jahan tak samvidhan ka sawal hai, aap maan ke chaliye, aur Modi ke shabd likh ke rakhiye, Babasaheb Ambedkar khud aa jaayein toh bhi samvidhan khatm nahi kar sakte hain (As far as the Constitution is concerned, keep Modi’s words in writing, if Babasaheb Ambedkar comes back himself, he too can’t abolish the Constitution). For the government, our Constitution is Gita, Ramayan, Mahabharat, Bible and Quran,” he said.
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In the past few weeks, the Congress has cited remarks by BJP leaders Anantkumar Hegde and Jyoti Mirdha to claim that the “BJP will change the Constitution if voted back to power”.
“The Congress, which has been discriminating against the brothers and sisters of SC/ST and OBCs for decades, is playing an old record today. Lying in the name of the Constitution has become a fashion for all the constituents of the INDI alliance whenever elections come. The Congress, which made Babasaheb (Bhimrao Ambedkar) lose the election, did not allow him to receive Bharat Ratna, and tried to destroy the Constitution by imposing Emergency in the country, is today resorting to lies in the name of the Constitution to abuse Modi,” the PM said.
He said it was his government which “for the first time started celebrating Constitution Day in the country – the Congress opposed it in Parliament – and developed the Panchteerth associated with Babasaheb. Therefore, there is a need to be cautious of the Congress and its INDI alliance, which insults Babasaheb and the Constitution”.
He reiterated that the Congress manifesto has an “imprint of the Muslim League”. Referring to the manifesto of Communist Party of India (Marxist), the PM said, “Now INDI alliance says we will destroy Bharat’s nuclear weapons and drown them in the river… Is it right for a country like India whose neighbours on both sides have nuclear weapons?”
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The CPI(M) manifesto states that the party works for “complete elimination of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological weapons”.
Read more | Will amend Constitution to undo ‘anti-Hindu’ changes made by Congress: Karnataka BJP MP Ananthkumar Hegde
“I want to ask the Congress, under whose instructions is your INDI alliance partner working? What kind of alliance is this which wants to disempower Bharat. On one hand, Modi is busy in making India a powerful nation, and on the other hand, the INDI alliance is announcing that Bharat will be weakened,” the PM said.
Attacking Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge once again over his remarks on mention of Kashmir in PM’s Rajasthan speeches, Modi said, “Jis Rajasthan mein, Kashmir mein janme Babosa Ramdev (a folk deity) ji ki ghar ghar pooja hoti ho, ussey poochhte ho ki Kashmir se kya rishta hai (In Rajasthan, where Kashmir-born Babosa Ramdev ji is worshipped in homes, you are asking what relation it has to Kashmir)?”
The Congress party pointed out that the PM confused Kashmir in Barmer, the birthplace of Baba Ramdev, with the Kashmir in J&K. Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra said, “In the race to build relationships everywhere, the Prime Minister turned Baba Ramdev-ji’s birthplace, Barmer’s ‘Undoo Kashmir’ village, into Jammu and Kashmir. O Ramsa Peer Baba, please forgive him.”
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Addressing a rally in Jaipur last week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, while referring to a speech by the PM in the state, said that the there are many issues of farmers and thousands are dying by suicide but the PM leaves all of that and comes here and says he has removed Article 370. “Arre bhai, yahan ke logon se kya waasta hai (What has that to do with the people here)? Okay, you go and speak in Kashmir, speak in Jammu, but when you are speaking here, tell us what you have done for the farmers,” Kharge said.
Congress leader Manvendra Singh also returned to the BJP fold at the PM’s Friday rally.
“Today I rejoined the BJP family and party workers in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Bhai Modi at Adarsh Stadium in Barmer. We are all committed to realising the public welfare policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the resolution of ‘Viksit Bharat’,” Manvendra said in a Facebook post.
Citing “self respect” and differences with the state BJP, Manvendra left the party in September 2018 and joined the Congress, which fielded him from the Jhalrapatan Assembly seat against the then-chief minister Vasundhara Raje. He lost the election.
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Manvendra joining the BJP bolsters the party’s prospects in Barmer where the party faces a triangular contest with Congress’s Ummeda Ram Beniwal and the independent Ravindra Bhati.
Later, in a roadshow in Dausa, PM Modi was joined by Kanhaiya Lal Meena and Rajasthan minister Kirodi Lal Meena in an open vehicle amid tight security arrangements. Modi waved at people lining both sides of the road and showed the BJP’s ‘lotus’ symbol to appeal to people to vote for the party. The roadshow covered a distance of around one-and-a-half km from Gandhi Tiraha to Gupteshwar Circle.
