Congress president Rahul Gandhi today accused the Modi government of 'trampling' on institutions like Supreme Court to return to power, drawing a sharp retort from BJP chief Amit Shah who charged the opposition party of "demonising and weakening each institution.
Mounting a fresh offensive, Gandhi also accused the ruling party of not allowing Parliament to run and said the "only one interest" Narendra Modi has is in himself and in becoming prime minister again, without being perturbed by deaths of Dalits, atrocities against minorities and rape of women.
Launching the Congress' nationwide Save the Constitution' campaign here, Gandhi accused the government of packing institutions with RSS men, including in offices of chief ministers and courts.
Supreme Court is being trampled upon, the Parliament has been shut," he said.
Soon after his speech, the BJP chief returned fire and said the opposition party's campaign was a farce and actually a "saving dynasty" drive. He also alleged that Congress was out to "demonise and weaken every institution" that seeks to maintain its identity and does not "kowtow to the dynasty".
He asserted the one thing from which these institutions needed to be saved was the Congress.
Gandhi said the foundation of India's institutions has been its Constitution, written and given to the country by the Congress and B R Ambedkar -- a statement termed by the BJP as an "insult" to the Dalit icon for mentioning his name after the party's.
Shah alleged Gandhi was "continuing his family legacy" in humiliating Ambedkar.
The Congress leader said his party respected all institutions during its rule and let different voices enter these institutions and also run them.
After the BJP-led NDA has come to power, every institution is being filled with the RSS people with one ideology - ideology that runs counter" to the Constitution, he said.
And the result is that the institution that protects the weaker people in India, the instruments that protect the weaker people in India, whether it is SC/ST Atrocities Act, are being eroded and weakened, he said.
No matter how much effort the BJP puts in, we will not allow them to destroy our institutions; We will not allow them to touch the Constitution, Gandhi added.
Countering him, Shah said "everyone knows" the reasons for which the judiciary has "invited the wrath" of Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
"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.
The BJP leader 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.
"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.
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