BJP makes noise, but doesn't have courage to change Constitution: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (March 17) claimed the ruling BJP makes "lot of noise" but does not have enough courage to "change" the Constitution, while asserting that the truth and the country's people are on his side.

Rahul's barbs were directed at BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde who recently stated that the party needed a two-third majority in both Houses of Parliament to amend the Constitution and “set right the distortions and unnecessary additions made to it by the Congress”. The BJP had distanced itself from Hegde's comment, calling it his "personal opinion" while seeking a clarification from him.

Rahul was addressing a gathering in a hall in Mumbai after taking out the 'Nyay Sankalp Padyatra' from the Mani Bhavan, Mahatma Gandhi's home, to the August Kranti Maidan, where the Quit India movement started in 1942 during India’s struggle for independence from the British rule.

He said, "The BJP makes a lot of noise, but it does not have enough courage to change the Constitution. Truth and the people's support are on our side." The Lok Sabha member from Wayanad said the current fight is between two "expressions", not just between the BJP and the Congress.

"One thinks the country should run centrally, where one person possesses all the knowledge. Contrary to this, we think there should be decentralisation of power, and people's voices should be heard," he said.

If a person holds an IIT degree, it does not make him/her more knowledgeable than a farmer, he said.

But the BJP does not function like this, the former Congress president said.

"(Prime Minister) Modi and the RSS have a vision that knowledge lies with one person...farmers, labourers and the unemployed youth have no knowledge," he added.

On Saturday, the Congress MP concluded his 63-day-old 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' in Mumbai by paying tributes to Dr B R Ambedkar at his memorial 'Chaityabhoomi' in central Mumbai and reading the Preamble of the Constitution.

The yatra, a mass outreach movement ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, had commenced from strife-torn Manipur on January 14. 

(With inputs from agencies)