Modi leads BJP counter-charge to quash Opposition claims of ‘changes in Constitution’

For some time now, the INDIA bloc, especially the Congress, has been pitching its battle against the BJP as one to “save the Constitution”. Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has now taken the fight into the rival camp, accusing the Congress of having, in fact, altered the statute with changes in the reservation promised to SC/STs to benefit Muslims.

As the election season gets into right earnest, this is one of the key issues being raised by Modi to target the Congress, as part of the BJP’s larger claims against the party of appeasement towards the minority community.

BJP sources admit that the strategy is deliberate, with the party realising that its target of “400 paar (more than 400)” Lok Sabha seats was being projected by INDIA as the first step towards “changing” the Constitution. Specifically, the INDIA messaging has been targeted at SC/STs, with Dalit voters in some parts expressing apprehension about “Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution” being changed.

Remarks by some BJP leaders, including candidates in the Lok Sabha polls, suggesting changes in the Constitution only gave the Opposition more ammunition. A BJP leader said they had got feedback from the ground that tribals, besides the minorities and Dalits, were raising questions about the issue.

Party leaders also feared that the impression that the BJP could change the Constitution would hurt it in southern states, where it is already looked upon with suspicion by many as a North-centric, majoritarian party.

It was then thatModi himself took charge. If, in Gaya, the PM said that even Ambedkar “cannot change the Constitution”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah pointed out in an interview to NDTV that if the BJP wanted to change the statute, it would have done so