Scindia slams Rahul for his 'fighting Indian state' remarks, says Congress stands exposed

Pune, Jan 16 (PTI) Union minister and BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday slammed Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for his "fighting Indian state" remarks and said the opposition party stands exposed after his controversial comments.

He pointed out that it was terrorists and Naxals who are fighting against India and hit out at Gandhi for his comments which were made by the opposition parliamentarian while attacking the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Addressing a 'Samvidhan Gaurav Abhiyan' (Constitution Pride Campaign) event in Pune, Scindia pointed out that in the last 75 years, governments headed by the Congress were responsible for 70 per cent of the amendments made in the Constitution.

"See the choice of words made by Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, yesterday. He said he is at war with the Indian state. If you are a citizen of India, what does it mean to be at 'war with the Indian state'. It means 'I am at war with the Indian Constitution'.

"Will you launch a war on the Indian Constitution? Imagine, who fights against India. It is terrorists, it is Naxals, who fight against India. We do not have to say much as they (Congress) have exposed themselves (with Gandhi's comments)," maintained Scindia.

Further targeting the Congress, the Union minister noted that there is one party which always used the Constitution to gain power.

On the other, there is one party, which is committed to India's development and welfare, insisted the Lok Sabha MP from Guna, referring to the BJP.

"In the last 75 years, 106 amendments have been carried out in the Constitution. Of these 106 amendments, 70 per cent took place under Congress regimes. In the first four years of independence itself, they brought the first amendment," he opined.

The Congress brought the first amendment to curb the rights of artists and press, he alleged.

"In 1971, they tried to turn India's Constitution into Indira's Constitution," the BJP leader argued.

Speaking at the inauguration of the new Congress headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday, Gandhi said his party was fighting the "BJP, RSS and the Indian state itself".

"Do not think that we are fighting a fair fight. There is no fairness in this. If you believe that we are fighting a political organisation called the BJP, that we are fighting a political organisation called the RSS, you have not understood what is going on. The BJP and the RSS have captured every single institution of our country. We are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian state itself," he said.

The remarks drew sharp criticism from the BJP, with party chief and Union minister J P Nadda saying the Congress' "ugly truth" has been exposed by its own leader. PTI SPK RSY