Maharashtra Elections 2024: BJP, Congress Clash Over Constitution Controversy At Rahul Gandhi’s Nagpur Event

Mumbai: The BJP on Thursday reacted strongly to the purported distribution of blank notebook as Constitution copy at Rahul Gandhi's Samvidhan Samman Sammelan convention in Nagpur on Wednesday and said that the entire agenda of Congress party was on spreading falsehoods.

Slamming Congress MP, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that the incident shows party's plan to write the Constitution as it wants, by showing a blank notepad as a copy of Constitution.

“The Congress wants to erase the Constitution of India. They intend to remove all the laws written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, excluding the preamble. This is why Rahul Gandhi recently predicted that reservation would be abolished. Remember that Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Constitution are not just election issues but the foundation of India and its people’s lives. The people will teach Congress a lesson for being anti-Constitution,” he added.

State BJP chief spokesperson Keshava Upadhye took to X and wrote, “By giving the name of constitution to a blank notepad, has the Congress indirectly revealed its plan to write the constitution as it wants? Otherwise, the Congress has been talking about cancelling the reservation provided by the Constitution for the past few days. Supporting Congress means killing the Constitution.”

Reacting to the charge, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said, “Why is the BJP so scared of Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Nagpur? At the Constitution Respect Conference, all the dignitaries were given notepads and pens. Making baseless allegations using videos of these notepads shows a lack of intelligence. The Constitution and Rahul Gandhi will expose your lies.”

The Congress on Thursday reacted sharply to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadvanis’s allegation that Rahul Gandhi was trying to seek support from “urban Naxals and anarchists” by holding a “red book” in his hand.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh reacted strongly to Fadnavis’s charge and said the Maharashtra deputy CM is “getting frustrated”.

Ramesh said, “The “Red Book” Fadnavis spoke about while speaking against Gandhi was actually “the Constitution of India, whose chief architect was Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.” He added that “This is the same Constitution of India which the RSS attacked in November 1949, saying that it was not inspired by the Manusmriti.”

The general secretary said this is the same Constitution which the Prime Minister wants to change. “As far as the "Lal Kitab" is concerned, Fadnavis should know that it has a foreword by one of the most respected personalities in the field of law in India, KK Venugopal, who was the Attorney General of India during 2017-2022.”