Why is Modi silent on BJP talks of changing constitution? asks Kharge

New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday questioned prime minister Narendra Modi’s silence over the demands made by certain BJP leaders, no less than an MP, to change the constitution of the country.

He accused the BJP and the RSS of being against the social justice guaranteed by the constitution and the word ‘secularism’ in it. He pointed out, that it was not the first time such voices have been raised as it is for a long time that senior BJP and RSS leaders have been suggesting changing the constitution.

Congress questions BJP’s inaction

He warned that any attempt to change the constitution would have dangerous repercussions and disastrous consequences.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here on Monday along with the party general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and Mukul Wasnik, the Congress president referred to one of the senior BJP MPs seeking a two-thirds majority in the Parliament to change the constitution. He observed that there was an agenda behind the BJP seeking to win 400 plus seats, which in any case it will never win, to change the constitution.

Dismissing the clarification of the BJP distancing itself from the Karnataka MP’s statement, Kharge said, it was typical of the PM to make others speak for himself. He asked why he was not taking any action against such people and why he was not throwing them out of the party.

He referred to the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s earlier statement where he had opposed reservations. He said, that sometimes they talk of merit suggesting to do away with the reservations and sometimes they talk of changing the constitution. He alleged that the BJP, the RSS and Bhagwat in particular were against reservations.

‘Many national symbols in danger’

The Congress president said that the BJP and their associates neither had any role in the freedom struggle of the country, nor the drafting of the constitution. He said, the RSS was even against the national flag and the Ashok Chakra and they have always preferred the saffron flag over the national tricolour.

He said, while PM Modi swears by Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and bows before him, he does not follow his principles. He observed, that if he really believed in what Dr Ambedkar taught and preached, he would not be tolerating the voices against the constitution being raised by his party leaders.

‘Central agencies being ignored’

He said the BJP has already weakened the autonomous constitutional bodies like the CAG as the party government no longer acknowledged and accepted the CAG reports.

In the same context, he disclosed that according to various CAG reports, the BJP governments at the Centre and States had committed scams worth Rs 8.5 lakh crores. He said, the BJP government was hiding it and had it been about others, it would have created hell.

Congress questions ECI’s silence

The Congress president reiterated his party’s demand for the 100 per cent count of the VVPAT slips. He wondered why the Election Commission avoided answers on this issue.

On the SBI seeking four and a half months for revealing the names of those who purchased electoral bonds, he said, the Modi government was only trying to hide its black deeds.

Congress demands transparency on electoral bonds

On SBI saying that it will furnish the details of only the donors and not about those who received the donations, he said, it will not serve any purpose.

He asked the prime minister, while he kept on talking about corruption and transparency, why he was not prepared to disclose the names of those people who bought the electoral bonds.

Kharge also took a jibe at the PM for speaking in different languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. “Beware, if you press the wrong button everything will go haywire,” he cautioned PM Modi with a pinch of sarcasm.