Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Accusing the BJP of harping on '400 paar' in the Lok Sabha polls so that they could change the Constitution and end reservations when the time came, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the party had some questions for Prime Minister Narendra Modi — specifically, his views on removing the 50% cap on SC, ST and OBC quota. The party also boasted that its promise of 'Rs 400 per day' national minimum wage is the real '400 paar'.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Congress has already promised in its 'Nyay Patra' (manifesto) that it will pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50% cap on reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs.
"I want to ask the Prime Minister, who wants to give a communal colour to the 'Nyay Patra' and wants to mislead, that will he remove the cap of 50% reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs," said Ramesh at a press conference.
He alleged that the BJP is "talking about '400 paar'" to change the Constitution as the "BJP and the RSS are against secularism and social justice."
Ramesh said the party's main campaigner Rahul Gandhi is holding a copy of the Constitution in his hand at election meetings to highlight its importance and tell people that there are attempts to change it.
"First the Prime Minister's economic advisor talked about it, then many candidates and MPs also stated this. Today I want to say that this is not the first time BJP and RSS have given a 'samvidhan badlo' slogan, it has been the demand of the RSS since 1949 that there is a need to change the Constitution," Ramesh said.
He quoted from an article that he claimed was published in the RSS' mouthpiece 'Organiser' on 30 November, 1949, which said, "the worst about the new Constitution of Bharat is that there is nothing Bharatiya about it. The drafters of the Constitution have incorporated in it elements of British, American, Canadian, Swiss and sundry other Constitutions... Manu's Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day, his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti, excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing."
Listing the guarantees of Congress, Ramesh said its promise of Rs 400 per day national minimum wage is the real '400 paar', referring to BJP's 400+ target set for 2024 polls.
Referring to International Labour Day falling on Wednesday, he said it is most appropriate to recall the 'Shramik Nyay' guarantees in the Congress Nyay Patra. The party has promised "Sabko Swaasthya Adhikaar (Universal Right to Health), Rs 25 lakh universal health coverage, with free diagnostics, medicines, treatment, and surgery."
It has also promised Urban Employment Guarantee under which a new employment guarantee act for urban areas will be brought in.