Constitution, Reservation as Key Campaign Issues
STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a short 1.15-minute video clip says the Constitution is a ‘holy book’ for him. Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand claims the BJP would 'tear apart’ and 'throw away’ the Constitution which granted rights to the poor, Dalits, Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes. Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh argues that the ‘real intention' behind BJP’s ‘400 paar’ (400 plus) slogan is to secure power to change the Constitution.
BJP and Congress arguments
The arguments on both sides, writes Manoj C G (Chief of National Bureau, Politics, IndianExpress) “revolve around reservation and tap into insecurities and apprehensions across the caste divide — framed in the larger context of the Constitution which guarantees equality and reservation.
“….The sub-text is, of course, reservation. Prime Minister Modi has repeatedly argued that the Congress, if it comes to power, will ‘rob’ OBCs of their reservation in order to give it to the Muslim minority.”
The Congress and the opposition, on the other hand, argue that the ruling party wants to win more than 400 seats so that they can make changes in the Constitution and snatch away the reservation benefits of SC, ST and OBC as the RSS, the BJP’s ideological fountainhead, had always been opposed to reservations.
This is part of Rahul’s aggressive caste census pitch — aimed at the OBCs – framed as a warning about the threat of BJP changing the Constitution.
