In run-up to Phase 3 of Lok Sabha election, Constitution, reservation come on campaign frontburner

On Wednesday, the social media handles of Prime Minister Narendra Modi put out a short 1.15-minute video clip with a caption “for me, the Constitution is sacred. It is supreme.” The video opens with Modi — at the campaign rally in Zaheerabad in Telangana Tuesday — saying the Constitution is a “holy book” for him and that he was the only Chief Minister who celebrated the 60 years of the Indian Constitution.

“Maine Surendra Nagar main haathi ke upar hamare samvidhan ko rakha tha. Samvidhan haathi par baitha tha aur Modi paidal chal raha tha,” Modi says as the video shows the 2010 visuals of the procession.

The Prime Minister then recounts his first visit to Parliament in 2014, when he had bowed in respect with his forehead touching the steps of Parliament — a reflection of the Constitution — and that in 2019 he had bowed before a copy of the Constitution in the central hall of Parliament after he was elected the leader of the NDA alliance.

On Tuesday, a day earlier, Modi’s main challenger Rahul Gandhi showed up at a Congress campaign rally in Bhind in Madhya Pradesh with a red pocket size edition of the Constitution. Holding the copy of the Constitution, Gandhi claimed the BJP, if voted to power again, would “tear apart” and “throw away” the Constitution which granted rights to the poor, Dalits, Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes.

Not to be left behind, Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh distributed copies of the pocket-size Constitution after a press conference at the AICC headquarters in Delhi Wednesday during which he argued that the “real intention” behind BJP’s “400 paar” slogan is to secure power to change the Constitution.

He said “samvidhan badlo” has been the demand of the RSS since 1949. Ramesh quoted