Taking a swipe at Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Amit Shah has said that a “54-year-old masquerading as a young leader” alleges that attempts are being made to alter the Constitution without realising that provisions to do so are built into the document. 

Mr Shah, who was speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday during a debate to commemorate 75 years of the Constitution, was referring to Rahul Gandhi and the Congress’ allegations that the BJP wants to amend the document and dilute its character – a move that paid dividends for the party and the opposition INDIA bloc during the Lok Sabha elections. 

“Our Constitution has never been considered immutable. Article 368 has a provision to amend the Constitution. A 54-year-old leader, who calls himself ‘yuva’ (youth), keeps roaming around with the Constitution, claiming that we would change it. I want to say that the provision to amend the Constitution is built in,” Mr Shah said. 

He pointed out that the Congress has made far more changes to the Constitution than the BJP has.

“The Congress ruled for 55 years and made 77 changes to the Constitution. The BJP has ruled for 16 years and made 22 changes. But what was the result? What was the aim of making the changes? Was it to strengthen democracy or stay in power?” he asked, in an apparent reference to Indira Gandhi. 

Rahul Gandhi, who is the MP from Raebareli, has been carrying a copy of the Constitution with him to various events since before the Lok Sabha elections. He also took oath as a Member of Parliament on the foundational document. 

Mr Shah said, however, that the copy of the Constitution carried by Mr Gandhi had been exposed as “fake” and “blank”.

“The blank copy of the Constitution is the biggest fraud ever,” he said, and termed the claims of “Constitution in danger” a political gimmick.

The Union Minister alleged that the Congress treated the Constitution as the “private fiefdom” of one family and “played fraud” with Parliament. 

“In the last 75 years, the Congress played fraud in the name of the Constitution… They (Nehru-Gandhi family) considered not just the party as their private property, but also treated the Constitution as their ‘private fiefdom’,” he said, referring to the insertion of Article 35A without parliamentary assent.

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