PM behaving like a puppet in the hands of RSS: Cong President Kharge
Bengaluru (PTI): Charging the Prime Minister Narendra Modi with behaving like a puppet in the hands of the RSS, Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday accused the organisation and the BJP of conspiring to distort the Constitution. He also called upon Congressmen and party leaders to face the upcoming Lok Sabha polls with unity and protect the Constitution and democracy.
The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha was speaking after unfurling the national tricolour at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office here on the occasion of Republic Day.
"Probably if there was no Constitution for this country, it would not have been possible for us to save democracy. With lots of effort, leaders of our freedom struggle and the Constituent Assembly members gave this country the Constitution," Kharge said.
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Addressing Congress workers and leaders, he said the Constitution contains important principles like equality, fraternity, secularism and justice.
"The RSS and BJP are conspiring to distort this Constitution and to make changes to it. All efforts are being made by the BJP to destroy or weaken our autonomous bodies one by one. Especially as Modi is behaving like a puppet in the hands of RSS, our judiciary or our secularism is facing the brunt," he added.
State Congress President D K Shivakumar, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and other senior party leaders were present.
The Congress party has fought for the freedom of the country, the AICC chief said, but the BJP is claiming to be the "only saviours" of this country. They speak about patriotism and are projecting to the youth that only they are true patriots, and rest all are traitors.
Recalling the struggle by the Congress and several of its stalwarts including Mahatma Gandhi in getting freedom for India, he said, "but today the BJP, the Prime Minister and Home Minister (Amit Shah) are making all efforts to make it the puppet in their hands. So it is important for us to save our freedom and Constitution for the good future of our younger generation."
"If there is no democracy and Constitution, there will be no opportunity for any of us," he added.
Stating that B R Ambedkar on January 26, 1949 had spoken about the importance of good people implementing the Constitution, Kharge said, "what he had said then is coming true today, the people who have to implement the Constitution now are not good, so we are witnessing all that is happening in the country now."
Claiming that there is a threat to the Constitution and democracy, the Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka said inflation and unemployment is rising by the day.
"To control this, in the upcoming elections, you will have to take loyal people into the party and strengthen it. It should not be that they join today and quit tomorrow....Think before inducting someone into the party, and checking their background and ideology is important," he said, adding that the Congress is bound by its ideology.
These comments from Kharge came a day after the former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar rejoined the BJP quitting the Congress. He had joined the Congress, quitting the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls last year on not getting a BJP ticket to contest the elections.
Appealing to Congressmen to stay united to protect the Constitution and democracy, he said: "In the upcoming elections too we have to show our unity. This is my suggestion and instruction to you. I'm confident that you will follow it."
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Sambhal violence orchestrated by BJP, govt to divert attention from poll rigging: Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday alleged the violence in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district over the survey of a mosque was "orchestrated" by the BJP, the government and the administration "to divert attention from electoral malpractice".
Police used tear gas and "minor force" in the face of stone pelting by locals in Sambhal on Sunday as tension escalated during a second survey of the Mughal-era mosque, claimed to be originally the site of an ancient Hindu temple.
Ten people have been detained and a probe was launched into the violence, an official said.
Tension has been brewing in Sambhal over the past few days after the Jama Masjid was surveyed last Tuesday on the orders of a local court following a petition that claimed that a Harihar temple stood at the site.
A day after the Uttar Pradesh bypoll results were declared and the Samajwadi Party managed to win just two seats while the BJP and its ally RLD bagged the other seven, Yadav levelled serious allegations against the police and administration.
"A serious incident occurred in Sambhal. A survey team was deliberately sent in the morning to disrupt discussions about the elections. The intention was to create chaos so that no debate on election issues could happen," the Samajwadi Party chief claimed.
Citing reports, he said several people were injured in the violence in Sambhal and asked when a survey of the mosque was already done, why was a new survey conducted again and "that too in the morning and without preparation?"
"I don't want to go into the legal or procedural aspects, but the other side was not even heard. This was intentionally done to provoke emotions and avoid discussions on election rigging," Yadav said.
"What happened in Sambhal was orchestrated by the BJP, the government and the administration to divert attention from electoral malpractices," the former UP chief minister alleged.
Asserting that in democracy, true victory comes from the people, not the system, he said, "The new democracy created by the BJP ensures that people cannot vote while the system dominates."
He added that whenever an impartial investigation takes place, and the truth comes out through booth recordings and CCTV footage, it will be evident that "voters did not cast their votes and someone else became the voter inside the booth".
Yadav claimed that on the polling day, the police and the administration removed the Samajwadi Party's almost all booth agents and many supporters who wanted to vote.
"If voters were prevented from voting, then who cast the votes? If Samajwadi Party votes didn't reach those booths and our candidate didn't get support, then who voted there? This is a serious issue," he said.
"Additionally, there were two types of slips, -- one with a red mark and another regular slip. We raised this issue on the voting day itself, stating that the administration had created such arrangements, leading to discrimination," Yadav alleged.
The Samajwadi Party's candidate for the Kundarki assembly bypoll Haji Rizwan too has alleged that his supporters were prevented from voting.
The BJP's Ramveer Singh won the bypoll in the Kundarki seat by a margin of over 1.45 lakh votes.
