Mumbai: Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). Claiming that both were the chieftains of liars, Mr Kharge said that the duo was misleading the country.
Mr Kharge participated in the “Bharat Bachao, Desh Bachao” (Save Bharat-Save Constitution) rally on the Congress’ 135th foundation day in Mumbai. Thousands of party workers and citizens participated in the rally which transformed into a Sabha near Wilson College, where the preamble of the Constitution was read by everyone.
Addressing all those gathered, Mr Kharge said that the BJP leaders had promised Rs 15 lakh to each person’s account and employment to two crore youths every year, but had failed in fulfilling any of the promises.
Hoisting the national flag in the same Gokuldas Tejpal hall where the Congress was founded, Mr Kharge recalled that the Congress party was founded in Mumbai, the Quit India movement was started in 1942 in Mumbai, and after a lot of struggle the country got independence.
“Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar gave the country its Constitution. The Congress had always run the country as per the Constitution, which made democracy even deeper rooted in India. The Constitution offered equal rights to all citizens, but the BJP government that was run by the RSS, was trying to change the Constitution,” Mr Kharge alleged. The introduction of the CAA, NRC and NPR were all part of the same attempt, he added. “Mr Modi and Mr Shah were trying to walk over the Constitution and divide the country on the basis of religion and caste. This flag march had been organised to tell Mr Modi and Mr Shah to ‘Chale Jao’,” Mr Kharge stressed.
Maharashtra Congress president and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat said that since the day the Congress party was formed, it had always worked for everyone without bearing in mind the distinctions of religion, caste or region.
By contrast, the BJP was trying to strip the citizens of the rights conferred upon them by the Constitution. However, the Congress would not allow them to be successful. In order to free the country from Mr Modi and Mr Shah's dictatorship, the Congress had launched this new freedom struggle, Mr Thorat claimed.
