Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a scathing attack on the Congress, alleged on Tuesday that the grand old party has tried to throttle the Constitution drawn up by Babasaheb Ambedkar since the beginning.

Adityanath's reaction came amid claims by the opposition parties, including the Congress, that the BJP's "400-paar" slogan is aimed at changing the Constitution and ending the reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and backward classes.

There cannot be a bigger lie than these claims by the opposition. Everyone knows the history of the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the parties associated with the INDIA bloc, Adityanath told reporters in Gorakhpur.

"The Congress' history has been to throttle the Constitution drawn up by Babasaheb Ambedkar. The Constitution came into force in 1950 and the Congress continuously worked to trample the freedom of expression. Even after that, there were continuous efforts to use the Constitution in its (Congress') own way," he alleged.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also described the Congress as anti-people and said it never tried to respect public sentiment.

Recalling the suspension of constitutional provisions to impose the Emergency in 1975 by the Indira Gandhi-led government, Adityanath said, "Even today, people of the country have not forgotten the Emergency. It was also like strangulating the Constitution." "People of the country also remember the sins that the Congress committed during the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government. The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party were allies of the Congress in the UPA," he added.

He asserted that the people of the country will not accept the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the INDIA bloc's agenda to grant reservation to a "specific religious group" and said such a move will jeopardise the constitutional framework and encroach upon the quota meant for backward classes and scheduled castes.

"The BJP staunchly opposes any form of reservation based on religion because the common people have suffered the brunt of partition on the basis of religion. The BJP firmly supports reservation benefits for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes," he said.

Adityanath also claimed that the Congress leadership has proven to be a "complete failure".

"Even members of the Congress lack trust in their leadership. This is evident as Congress candidates are withdrawing from electoral contests in certain regions, state unit chiefs are resigning and, at some places, the declared candidates are withdrawing their candidature and taking membership of the BJP," he said.

"As a result, in their frustration, the remaining Congress leaders are resorting to baseless and concocted accusations," the chief minister added.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.