Modi Accuses Congress of Constitutional Conspiracy, Vows to Protect Reservations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized Congress at a rally in Prayagraj, claiming they conspired to amend the Constitution during the Emergency and spread lies about it. He assured the public that he would protect reservations for SCs, STs, and OBCs, and criticized Congress and SP for alleged vote-bank reservations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the Congress had ''hatched a conspiracy to amend the Constitution by imposing Emergency'' and asserted that ''its character has still not changed''.

He also accused the opposition party of spreading lies in the country regarding the Constitution and said that he would not allow it to snatch reservations for the SCs, STs and OBCs.

''Friends, the boat of the INDI Alliance is sinking. They have only one crutch -- lies. They are lying repeatedly. They are spreading lies regarding the Constitution,'' Modi said at a rally here.

The Congress has been alleging that the BJP's ''400 paar'' slogan for the Lok Sabha polls is aimed at changing the Constitution and ending the reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and backward classes.

Slamming the opposition party over its allegation, the prime minister said, ''Who poses a threat to the Constitution? You tell, who hatched the conspiracy of amending the Constitution by imposing Emergency?'' ''The Allahabad High Court had reined in on the dictatorship of the Congress. An attempt was made to loot democracy in Rae Bareli. The High Court annulled the elections and stopped Indira Gandhi from contesting the elections,'' Modi said.

''So many years have passed, yet the character of the Congress has not changed,'' he said.

Alleging that the Congress-SP leaders were planning to provide reservation to their vote bank -- ''those indulging in vote jihad'' -- by going against the Constitution, Modi said that even Babasaheb Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, was against giving reservation on the basis of religion. ''In Karnataka, the Congress government has given the OBC quota to the Muslims. Now, they want to do this in the entire country. But I will not allow these people to snatch the reservation given to the Dalits and backward classes and this is a guarantee of Modi. A strong government is needed so that Modi continues to serve you.'' Attacking the previous Samajwadi party government in Uttar Pradesh, Modi said, ''Prayagraj was such a big centre of education. Can the youth of this place ever forget that the SP government used to trade with your dreams.'' ''It was your hard work, your qualification, but somebody else used to get the job. Jobs used to be given based on caste, and those giving bribes would get the job. These people had made UPPSC (Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission) a 'Parivaar' Service Commission. The future of so many talented people from UP was destroyed by them,'' the prime minister.

Polling in the Allahabad Lok Sabha constituency will take place in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 25. The main contest is between Neeraj Tripathi, the son of former West Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, and Ujjwal Ram Singh, the son of former Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Reoti Raman Singh.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)