BJP, Congress spar on who is ‘destroying’ Constitution

BJP President Amit Shah today mocked the Congress’ ‘Save the Constitution’ campaign, launched by its chief Rahul Gandhi, as a “farce” and a “saving dynasty” drive, as he accused the opposition party of ‘demonising’ every institution.

On a day the Rajya Sabha chairman rejected a Congress-led move to impeach the Chief Justice of India, Shah also made his first comment on the issue and alleged that the opposition party’s campaign was part of a larger conspiracy to “demonize and weaken every institution” that seeks to maintain its identity and does not “kowtow to the dynasty“.

In an apparent reference to the Supreme Court last week rejecting pleas seeking probe into death of judge B H Loya, the ruling party chief said “everyone knows” the reasons for which the judiciary has “invited the wrath of Congress the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty”, but he would not get into that.

Soon after Gandhi launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Congress’ ‘Save the Constitution’ campaign, Shah hit back at the Congress and its chief and said it is becoming increasingly clear that their “Modi hatred” is fast turning into “India hatred“.

“Our institutions which are an outcome of our Constitution today need to be saved from the onslaught of the Congress Party. The Congress Party has spared no institution and is attacking the EC, Supreme Court, Army for petty political gains,” Shah said in a statement.

“Those who do not trust the Army, the judiciary, the Supreme Court, the Election Commission, EVMs and the RBI are now saying democracy is in danger. India has a vibrant democracy and a vibrant Constitution,” Shah said.

Attacking Gandhi and other Congress leaders, Shah said they were blinded by their disdain for Modi and were using “choicest of words and phrases to show India in bad light“.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi had said that India may burn and girls raped but Modi was merely interested in becoming prime minister again and the country’s standing has taken a beating under his four year rule.

Hitting back, Shah said if there is one political party that has “trampled over the Constitution in letter and spirit, time and again, it is the Congress party”, as he cited the example of the then Congress government promulgating Emergency in 1975.

Saving the Constitution or Saving Dynasty

Terming the Congress’ campaign to ‘Save the Constitution’ as both “ironical and comical”, Shah said, “They do not want rule of democracy but they want rule of dynasty. Its ‘Save the Constitution’ campaign is nothing but a farce that seeks to perpetuate the rule of dynasty over the rule of democracy. Like in the past, we need to protect the Constitution from the Congress,” he said.

Shah also took to popular social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook with a post titled ‘Saving the Constitution or Saving Dynasty’ and accused the Congress of again taking the “only path it knows very well, of spreading hate and divisions in our society“.

Asking Gandhi and his party to stop their “theatrics and aggression”, the BJP chief alleged that when the UPA was in power, the then Army chief was targeted and the entire Army was dragged into a political slugfest.

Shah also said the Congress had launched a tirade against the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) when the country was witnessing a “grand awakening against the corruption” of its government, while now it has trained its guns on the Election Commission by questioning the sanctity of the polling process after facing repeated electoral defeats in the last four years.

“Time changes, the context changes but the means as well as the ends remain the same -- discredit any institution that comes in the way of furthering the rule of the dynasty,” the BJP president said.

Shah also recalled dismissal of several opposition-ruled state governments by different Congress dispensations at the Centre in the past, including of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

On Congress humiliating Bhimrao Ambedkar

He also accused Rahul Gandhi of humiliating Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar with his claim that the Congress made the Constitution, saying he is “continuing his family legacy” with such insults.

Earlier at a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said Gandhi in his speech had credited his party and Ambedkar of making the Constitution, which amounted to relegating the stalwart to the back bench.

“It is well known how Pandit Nehru personally ensured the defeat of Dr. Ambedkar in not one but two elections”, Shah said.

“It is also no coincidence that in 1997, the year Sonia Gandhi took the primary membership of the Congress, the Third Front government backed by it took away promotional benefits of SC/ST employees,” he said, while adding that it was the subsequent Vajpayee government that amended the Constitution to ensure justice for them.

Gandhi’s attack on the Modi government over Dalit issues and Shah’s mention of Ambedkar and the first NDA government’s efforts for benefits aimed at SC/ST employees underline the battle for the votes of these numerically strong communities between the two parties as they gear up for the next Lok Sabha polls.

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