bjp-will-never-end-reservations-or-change-constitution-says-rajnath-singh

The BJP government will never change the Constitution or end reservations, it's the Congress party that is creating fear psychosis, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said.

Slamming the opposition party for spreading misinformation to create fear that the BJP would change the Constitution if it returned to power, Singh said there was no question of changing the Preamble of the Constitution.

"Congress brought constitutional amendments 80 times, they changed the Preamble during the Emergency," the defence minister said in a recent interview with PTI.

He was referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegations that the BJP will "tear up and throw away" the Constitution if it returned to power and statements by other party leaders that BJP will drop the word "secularism" from the Preamble of the Constitution.

Saying constitution makers had never bargained for changes in the Preamble, he said the "Congress only acted to hurt the core idea of the Constitution." 

"There is no question of changing the Preamble of the Constitution. They changed it and now they are making baseless allegations against us," he added.

The Preamble to the Constitution of India presents the principles of the Constitution. The 42nd Amendment in 1976 changed the description of India from a "sovereign democratic republic" to a "sovereign socialist secular democratic republic".

"They (Congress) are trying to get peoples' support by instilling fear among the citizens," Singh said.

"I would suggest that they should try to get people's support by creating confidence and not by instilling fears. Electoral campaigns should be based on facts," he said.

On Friday, Gandhi had alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP and the RSS, were attacking India's democracy continuously and wanted to "destroy" the country's Constitution.

Singh also accused the Congress for misleading the nation on reservations, stating,"There will not be any end to reservation. They are making false allegations against us." 

The Congress has asked BJP leaders to clear the party's stance on removing the 50 per cent cap on reservation for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes.

"We will not tinker with reservation at all," Singh said.