PM Modi orchestrating systematic campaign to do away with Constitution: Congress

The Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday of orchestrating a systematic campaign to do away with the Constitution framed by B R Ambedkar and said the upcoming Lok Sabha election is about preserving and protecting Ambedkar's magnificent accomplishment.

Ambedkar's birth anniversary was celebrated on Sunday.

"Today our country celebrates the 133rd birth anniversary of the extraordinarily multi-faceted Dr B R Ambedkar -- at a time when calls for doing away with the Constitution of India, which is his greatest legacy, are getting shriller. This is undoubtedly part of a systematic campaign orchestrated by none other than the Prime Minister himself," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

"The strategy is simple but full of hypocrisy: keep up the pretence of upholding that legacy while undermining it daily and getting drum-beaters to call for a new Constitution," he added.

"This is what the 2024 election is fundamentally all about -- the preservation and protection of Dr Ambedkar's magnificent accomplishment along with the values in which it is anchored and principles in which it is grounded," Ramesh said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge paid homage to Ambedkar and visited Deekshabhoomi in Maharashtra's Nagpur, where the Dalit icon had embraced Buddhism.

"Today, on the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, we again pledged to protect the Constitution and democracy at the historic Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur.

"The entire country has to unite to save the Constitution," Kharge said in a post on X while sharing his pictures from Nagpur.

Earlier in the day, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the ultimate aim of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre is to alter the basis structure of the Constitution and that is why the leaders of the party keep talking about "400 paar" (winning more than 400 seats) in the Lok Sabha polls.

Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar wondered that if the prime minister has clarified that no one will be able to change the basic structure of the Constitution, why does the BJP not expel those leaders who have said otherwise.

Modi had earlier said even if Ambedkar himself comes, he will not be able to change the basic structure of the Constitution.