Lok Sabha elections | Conspiracy being hatched to change the Constitution, says Sonia Gandhi

The Congress leader slams the saffron party for ‘destroying democratic institutions’ while releasing the party manifesto in Jaipur

Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge during an election rally in Jaipur on April 6, 2024. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on April 6 accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre of destroying the democratic institutions, built with hard work, by the weapons of political power and tearing apart the dignity of the nation. Ms. Gandhi said a conspiracy was also being hatched to change the Constitution.

Accompanied by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other party leaders, Ms. Gandhi publicly launched the party’s Lok Sabha election manifesto, titled Nyay Patra (document of justice) and released in New Delhi on Friday, at a rally organised at Vidyadhar Nagar Stadium in Jaipur.

Ms. Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who considered himself “above the nation”, was undermining democracy and resorting to various tactics to intimidate and threaten the Opposition leaders to make them join the BJP.

“This is nothing less than dictatorship and we will give a befitting reply [to it],” Ms. Gandhi, the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, said. She said the BJP government’s only achievements during the last 10 years were the rising unemployment, inflation, economic crisis and inequality.

Ms. Gandhi said the present spell of frustration would soon give way to the hope for betterment. “The nation belongs to all of us. Our colleagues in Congress will light the lamp of justice and move forward… The innocent children of the country cannot be deprived of their share of justice.”

Addressing the rally, Mr. Kharge said Mr. Modi, who had been flagging off the infrastructure built by the Congress during the last 70 years, was talking everywhere about “Modi’s guarantees” after stealing the concept from the Congress. He said Mr. Modi and the BJP had only been abusing the Gandhi family in the last 10 years.

Ms. Vadra said the Congress manifesto, containing guarantees for farmers and other sections of society, would turn out to be the voice of the nation which wanted justice. While unemployment and inflation were at their peak, the Opposition was under a blatant attack from the BJP regime at the Centre, she said.