Ahead of the general elections, the Congress party has been alleging that BJP is attempting to ‘change the constitution’. While the Constitution can be amended by the parliament, and it has been done so over a hundred times, Congress wants to create an impression among the voters that amending the constitution is a crime, and BJP will do something illegal by amending the constitution.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has been accusing BJP of attempting to amend the constitution, and has warned the ruling party against it. Rahul Gandhi had said that the ultimate goal of Narendra Modi and BJP is to destroy Baba Saheb’s Constitution. He had assured that his party will not allow the BJP govt to ‘change the constitution’.
Even today, Congress leader Jairam Rames attacked the BJP over comments by some BJP leaders promising constitutional amendments. He said that such comments by BJP leaders paint a worrying picture of what Indian democracy will be like if the BJP returns to power. He asked PM Modi, “Can the Prime Minister make a clear statement that he does not want to change the Constitution?”
However, it seems Jairam Ramesh, Rahul Gandhi, Kharge and other Congress leaders attacking BJP over the issue have not read the election manifesto of his own party. Because, in the manifesto Nyay Patra released today, the Congress party has promised to make several changes to the constitution. The party has promised at least six changes to the constitution, some of which hare very concerning.
In the Equity section of Nyay Patra, the Congress party has promised to change the constitution to remove the 50% cap on reservations. The manifesto says, “The Congress guarantees that it will pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SC, ST and OBC.” The party has also promised a nationwide Socio-Economic and Caste Census.
In the section Senior Citizens, Persons with Disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ section of the manifesto, the Congress party has promised to amend Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution to expand their scope. It says, “We will expand Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the ground of ‘disability’, ‘impairment’ or ‘sexual orientation’.”
Article 15 deals with the Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, while Article 16 guarantees equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.
The Congress party also promises to amend the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution to ensure automatic disqualification of MPs and MLAs who leave their parties. The manifesto Nyay Patra states in the ‘defending the constitution‘ section, “We promise to amend the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and make defection (leaving the original party on which the MLA or MP was elected) an automatic disqualification of the membership in the Assembly or Parliament.”
In a big promise, the Congress party has talked about changing the Constitution to split the Supreme Court of India. The party has said that it will amend the Constitution to create two divisions in the Supreme Court, a Constitutional Court and a Court of Appeal. Notably, it has been demanded for some time by various sectors to split the Supreme Court into two sections, a court of appeal to hear appeals against High Court rulings in regular cases, and a Constitutional court to hear only matters relating to the constitution, laws, and matters of national importance.
Talking about another change in the constitution, the Congress party has promised to change the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to include Ladakh. It states, “We will amend the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to include the tribal areas of Ladakh.” This Schedule contains provisions regarding the administration of tribal areas in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
In the sixth promised change to the constitution, Congress has said that it will make changes to the 106th amendment of the constitution brought by the BJP govt, which is the Women’s Reservation Bill, 2023 or the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. Congress alleges that reservation for women in Parliament and Assemblies will begin only beyond 2029, and has promised an amendment to bring the 106th amendment into force immediately. It says that it will enforce the reservation in assembly elections from 2025, and in parliamentary elections from 2029.
There is nothing wrong in amending the constitution as per changing circumstances, and therefore there is nothing wrong in Congress promising amendments to the constitution. But the problem is, the Congress party has been projecting amendments of the constitution as something illegal, and has been accusing BJP of trying to ‘change the constitution. Ironically, on the same day the party demanded guarantee from PM Narendra Modi that BJP will not ‘change the constitution’, its own election manifesto promised at least six changes to the constitution.
Apart from the changes to the constitution, Congress has also promised changes to a large number of laws, like Election laws, laws related to media and information technology, labour laws, etc.