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A day ahead of Ram Navami, in his public meetings in West Bengal on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the ruling Trinamool Congress government of stopping people from celebrating the festival.
In his public rallies in Bihar, Modi said he was indebted to B R Ambedkar’s Constitution that enabled a person from humble origins like him to become the country’s Prime Minister.
The PM’s comments on the Constitution come in the wake of the Opposition’s attack on him on the issue.
The Opposition has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of intending to change the Constitution if it were to get an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha polls. Addressing public meetings in Kerala’s Kozhikode and Wayanad, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the principal issue in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP are trying to change and destroy the Constitution. “The Constitution gives equal rights to everyone irrespective of their language, religion, region or gender, and this is what the BJP and RSS are allegedly trying to destroy,” he said.
On the electoral bonds scheme, Gandhi said the bonds were a form of extortion carried out by the PM.
In his public meetings in Bihar’s Gaya and Purnea, the PM spoke at length about the high esteem in which he held the Constitution. “Our intent is to reach out to every nook and cranny of the country where youngsters will be told how our glorious Constitution was drafted and what its significance is,” the PM said.
“People ask me why I care so much for the poor, the Dalits. I do so because I have risen from among them. I feel indebted to the social class.
I also feel indebted to the Constitution framed by Babasaheb Ambedkar which helped me reach where I am,” the PM said.
On Monday, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad had referred to statements by BJP leaders who have said the “Constitution will be changed if we get two-thirds majority in Parliament'”. “Whoever will make an attempt to change the Constitution, the poor backward and Dalits will gouge out their eyes,” Prasad told reporters in Patna. BJP leaders, such as its Uttar Kannada MP Anantkumar Hegde and Faizabad MP Lallu Singh have purportedly said that the government needed a two-thirds majority in Parliament to change the Constitution.
Last week, the PM had said the Constitution was as sacred to him as Ramayana, Bible, and Koran. He said that even Ambedkar, if were to come now, would not be able to change the Constitution. “Our opponents are those who had held the Constitution hostage and tried to tamper with it during the Emergency. Those who want power to remain confined within the hands of a family always treat the Constitution as an eyesore,” he had said.
A reason why they have even begun to threaten that they will not accept outcomes of polls held under the provisions of the Constitution. We must remain united to foil their attempts," the PM had said.
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