A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader’s comments on amending the Constitution have given the opposition ammunition against her party, with senior leaders saying it is part of a “deliberate strategy”.
The Congress on Tuesday claimed that after Anant Hegde, another leader of the ruling BJP, Jyoti Mirdha, has openly said that the party’s aim is to change the Constitution.
In an address made at Rajashan’s Nagaur recently, BJP’s Jyoti Mirdha is heard saying, “Desh ke hit mein kai kathor nirnay karne padhte hain. Unke liye humein samvidhanik badlav karne padhte hain. Agar samvidhan ke andar humein koi badlav karna hota hai toh aap mein se kahin log jaante hain ki uske liye dono jo humare sadan hain, Lok Sabha aur Rajya Sabha, unke andar haami chahiye hoti hai (Several tough decisions need to be taken in the country’s interest and for that we have to make constitutional amendments. If we have to make amendments in the Constitution, many of you would know that we need the nod of both Houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha).”
The Congress from its official handle on X said, “This is BJP candidate Jyoti Mirdha contesting from Nagaur, Rajasthan. Jyoti Mirdha says that to change the Constitution, we need an overwhelming majority in both the houses. BJP MP Anant Hegde has also said that if we get 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, we will change the Constitution. It is clear from these statements that BJP and PM Modi hate the Constitution and democracy. By abolishing the Constitution given by Babasaheb, BJP wants to snatch away the rights of the people.”
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor shared on X a video of Mirdha, the BJP candidate from Rajasthan’s Nagaur in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, in which she is purportedly heard talking about the need for the saffron party to secure a majority in both Houses of Parliament to be able to make constitutional amendments.
“After Anant Hegde let the cat out of the bag, BJP leaders hastily stuffed it back in and dropped him from their candidate list. Now another BJP candidate openly says the BJP’s aim is to change the Constitution,” Tharoor said on X.
Quoting Tharoor’s tweet, the party’s General Secretary in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh, said, “These are all orchestrated by the MahaSutradhar himself. It is deliberate strategy.”
Reacting to Tharoor’s allegations, Mirdha said, “As far as I understand, BJP’s aim is to serve the national and public interest as it gets articulated in the democratic discourse. And if for those purposes the constitution needs to be amended then so be it. Most recently the cat was let out of the bag by the 106th constitutional amendment for Women’s Reservation Bill in September last year for which it seems you lent a reluctant helping hand.”
Mirdha also shared on X her clarification on the matter, saying that in a public meeting on March 31, her general comment “aimed at explaining the process of constitutional amendment was unnecessarily blown out of proportion by some honourable leaders of the opposition, which in my opinion is not only unnecessary but also entirely undesirable”.
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party chief Hanuman Beniwal, who has been fielded as an INDIA bloc alliance candidate on this seat, said that “the statement makes it clear that the BJP is bent on finishing Babasaheb’s Constitution”.
During the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, there is a reversal of roles for Beniwal and Mirdha: In 2019, Beniwal, as BJP’s ally, had defeated Mirdha, who was fielded as a Congress candidate.
At a gathering at Karwar in Karnataka, Anant Hegde had said the BJP needs a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament to amend the Constitution and “set right the distortions and unnecessary additions made to it by the Congress”.