Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said that the Congress’ “disinformation campaign” failed, referring to the opposition party’s claim during the Lok Sabha polls that the BJP would change the Constitution if it won the 2024 general elections.

People are now aware of the truth, said the BJP leader in a press conference here ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.

He targeted Rahul Gandhi over the latter’s visit to Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur, where Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had embraced Buddhism 68 years ago, on Wednesday and attacked the Congress over historical political events and for “treating” Muslims as a vote bank.

Questioning Rahul Gandhi’s respect for the Constitution, he said, “The Congress should first answer why it insulted the Constitution and late Dr Ambedkar. The Congress had even ensured Dr Ambedkar’s defeat.”

He said the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru initially did not want Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Constitution, in his cabinet, although the Dalit icon was eventually inducted and made the law minister.

Rijiju also mentioned Ambedkar’s resignation, describing it as an insult to him. This marked the beginning of significant changes in the constitutional framework, said the former law minister, citing the 42nd Amendment, passed during Emergency (1975-77).

“The spirit of the Constitution was attacked in 1975, and democracy was murdered,” Rijiju said, referring to the Emergency imposed by then PM Indira Gandhi.

Rijiju also described Congress leaders holding copies of the Constitution as a “fake drama”, claiming the book had blank pages. “Some people told me that the books Congress party distributed to people (as copies of Constitution) had a red cover but with blank pages,” he said.

The BJP leader praised the pace of infrastructure development under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the construction of highways and expressways.

The Maharashtra government, when Devendra Fadnavis was the CM, built the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway. He contrasted this with what he described as the failure of Congress-led governments in delivering on their promises in Telangana, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh.

“Within one month, people were dissatisfied with the guarantees made in these states,” he claimed.

Rijiju also accused the Congress of exploiting Muslims as a vote bank.

“Congress fooled Muslims. They are still poor, and no major work was done for them. This affected both the Muslim community and the country as a whole,” Rijiju claimed.

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