The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the Congress party of distributing “blank copies of the Constitution” at an event in Maharashtra’s Nagpur led by Rahul Gandhi, which ironically focused on the theme of protecting and upholding the Constitution.
A video shared by Maharashtra BJP on social media quickly went viral, showing books labelled ‘Constitution of India’ on the front but containing only blank pages, with the exception of the preamble. The BJP seized upon this to criticise Congress, claiming it as evidence of the party’s alleged anti-Constitution stance.
In response, Congress dismissed the BJP’s allegations as a “false narrative.” Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar clarified that each attendee at the event was given a notebook and a pen. As Maharashtra’s high-stakes assembly election approaches, the ruling BJP leveraged the incident to attack Gandhi and Congress, branding them as anti-reservation and anti-Constitution.
“Congress wants to erase the Constitution of India like this. All laws written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar are to be deleted. That is why Rahul Gandhi had predicted that reservation would be cancelled in the interim,” Maharashtra BJP posted on social media.
The debate over the Constitution’s sanctity intensified, with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis criticising Gandhi for holding a “red book,” suggesting it reflected a “leaning towards urban Naxals and anarchists.” Fadnavis stated, “My allegations against Rahul Gandhi about his support for ‘urban Naxals’ have proved true. He showed a red book and sought support from these groups.”
In a counterattack, Maharashtra Congress accused the BJP of deliberately misleading the public, stating that the BJP and RSS “are enemies of the real Constitution.” Congress argued, “The BJP’s strategy is to dismantle the Constitution by levelling false accusations against those who seek to protect it.”
During the event, titled Samvidhan Samman Sammelan, Rahul Gandhi addressed the crowd holding a slim, red-covered copy of the Constitution and condemned the BJP and its ideological ally, the RSS, for undermining the Constitution, calling this an attack on the “voice of the country.”
Gandhi reiterated his demand for a nationwide caste census, asserting that the exercise “will happen” and pledged to “break the 50 per cent reservation limit,” promising a new phase of social justice.
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