Rahul Gandhi to launch 'Save Constitution' campaign from Monday
New Delhi, April 22: Accusing the BJP-RSS leadership of "systematically destroying" the Constitution, the Congress on Sunday announced that its President Rahul Gandhi will launch a nationwide "Save the Constitution" campaign on April 23 from Delhi's Talkatora stadium.
"Rahul Gandhi ji will launch the campaign on April 23 at the Talkatora Stadium. Senior Congress leaders will join him," AICC Scheduled Caste Department Chairman Nitin Raut said in a statement.
He said that the party's scheduled caste leaders from block to national levels will participate in the programme and the campaign would go on for nearly a year till April 14, 2019.
"The campaign would be taken up at the state-level by the party's respective SC departments to reach out to the common man at the village level," he said.
The Congress campaign comes at a time when the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is holding "Gram Swaraj Abhiyan" across the country under which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked party MPs and MLAs to spend a night in Dalit-dominated villages.
The Prime Minister's direction to party leaders came after violent protests erupted in parts of the country after a Supreme Court order allegedly diluted the Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Raut said that the BJP and RSS leadership was systematically destroying the Indian Constitution to wreck the country's social fabric to enforce their pernicious Manuwadi social order that was contrary to what the Constitution had nurtured and protected.
"Ever since the RSS-supported BJP has come to power at the Centre, the Constitution has been under severe attack, in one form or the other, thereby denying the marginalised sections of society their constitutional rights," he said.
Raut said that the institutions such as the RBI, Supreme Court, Election Commission and erstwhile Planning Commission were all under threat.
"The RBI was sidelined while deciding on demonetisation. The Planning Commission was dismantled to establish NITI Aayog that has no accountability. The voice of four Supreme Court senior most Judges has been silenced and the Election Commission made to wait for government's approval to announce election schedules," he said.
The Congress leader said that the BJP-RSS combine is set to dismantle the social security available for SCs, STs and other weaker sections.
"The RSS ideology attacks the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. This would be countered by the Congress," he said.
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Curbs imposed in parts of Kashmir; protests break out in Shia dominated areas
Srinagar (PTI): Protests broke out on Friday in some Shia-dominated areas of Kashmir, including Magam and Budgam, against the US-Israel strikes on Iran, officials said.
Apprehending the protests on the last Friday of Ramzan, restrictions were imposed this morning in Srinagar and other parts of the valley, especially the Shia-dominated areas.
The restrictions on the assembly of people were imposed in the morning as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in view of the likelihood of protests, the officials said.
The protesters shouted slogans against the US and Israel aggression in Iran, and in support of Palestine, they said.
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However, the officials added that the protests remained peaceful so far.
They situation is being monitored closely, they said.
Juma-tul-Vida (last Friday of Ramzan) is also being observed as Youm-ul-Quds to express solidarity with Palestine and there are apprehensions of anti-Israel protests after the congregational prayers, they said.
The authorities also shut the historic Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta locality of the city here.
"On the last Friday of holy Ramzan, when tens of thousands gather from towns and villages for prayers and supplication at the historic Jama Masjid Srinagar, its gates have once again been locked from all sides," Kashmir's chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said in a post on X.
He said it was the seventh consecutive year, "the rulers have denied permission to Muslims to pray here".
"As Israel has forcibly shut the gates of Masjid al-Aqsa during Ramzan, similar painful reality is witnessed here. Our hearts bleed. Shame on those who lock the houses of Allah against the faithful," the Mirwaiz added.
