Defense Minister Rajnath Singh dismissed the Congress’ allegations as political posturing and said the BJP government has no plans to amend the Constitution or abolish reservation.
Singh attacked the Congress in an interview with PTI for spreading false rumors that the BJP would change the Constitution if re-elected. Singh specifically refuted any intention to change the Preamble.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi expressed anxiety that the BJP might drop the phrase “secular”, and Singh tried to allay that fear by providing comfort in the Preamble, the PTI report added.
Singh, according to the report, emphasized that the BJP would maintain its integrity and noted that the Congress had a track record of changing the Constitution during the Emergency.
The fundamental ideas of the Indian Constitution are outlined in the Preamble. India’s status as a “sovereign democratic republic” was modified to a “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic” in 1976 with the passing of the 42nd Amendment.
“The Congress brought constitutional amendments 80 times. They changed the Preamble during the Emergency. The BJP will never change the Constitution. The legislators never imagined that there would be changes in the Preamble. You (Congress) only acted to damage the core idea of It is not about to change the Preamble of the Constitution. They changed it and now they are making unfounded accusations against us,” Singh added.
“They (Congress) are trying to get people’s support by instilling fear among citizens. I would suggest that they should try to get people’s support by building trust and not by instilling fear. Election campaigns should be based on facts.” he said.
On reservations, Singh, in an interview with the news agency, vehemently denied the Congress’s claims of possible amendments and insisted that the BJP will not alter the reservation policies. Singh asked Congress to stop spreading fear among the people and focus instead on building trust through honest political campaigns. Responding to Congress’ request for clarity, Singh stated that no changes would be made in the 50 per cent reservation quota, the PTI report added.
“Congress is creating fear psychoses and resorting to spreading misinformation for vote bank politics. Congress is trying to mislead people. There will be no end to the reservation. They are making false allegations against us. We will not play with the reservation. at all,” Singh told PTI.