New Delhi, April 29: The Congress on Monday alleged that the BJP wants “more than 400 seats” so that they can amend the Constitution and fulfil the decades-long “conspiracy” of the RSS to abolish reservation.
The main opposition party said this is the first time that a political party’s goal is not only to win an election but also to secure more than 400 seats.
The Congress and the BJP have been sparring over the issue. While addressing the election rallies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been rebutting the Congress charge and saying even if “Babasaheb Ambedkar comes, the Constitution cannot be changed”.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Monday shared media reports on RSS-BJP leaders’ remarks in the last few years on “ending reservation” and alleged that they have been trying to do away with the quota in education and jobs for the SCs, STs and OBC.
“RSS and BJP have been opposing reservation for 100 years. For the last 10 years they have been continuously attacking reservation — in 2015, RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat had talked about reviewing reservation and its need and time limit.
“In 2017, RSS leader Manmohan Vaidya said reservation should be removed. In 2018, (former) BJP MP CP Thakur had opposed Dalit reservation,” Ramesh said in a post in Hindi on X.
In 2021, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur of the BJP had said the time had come to put an end to caste-based reservation, he said.
Ramesh said the people should note that this is the first time that the goal of a political party is not just to win an election but to emerge victorious in more than 400 seats.
“The BJP is a clear threat to our Constitution. It wants to amend the Constitution so that the decades-long conspiracy of the RSS to abolish reservation can succeed,” the Congress leader alleged.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the country has seen through the “sinister plot” of trying to amend the Constitution and doing away with reservation because that has been the core philosophy of the RSS.
Even in the BJP, it is no coincidence that leaders such as Jyoti Mirdha and Anant Hegde are talking about amending the Constitution, Shrinate said.
“What does it mean? It simply means denying people the right to reservation. It simply means acting against Dalits, tribals, backward classes and the poor in the general category. People have understood your sinister plot and will throw you out,” she said. (PTI)
