The Congress on Saturday said the Constitution faced an “existential crisis” as the Narendra Modi government was determined to impose a contrasting RSS agenda on the nation by strangling democratic institutions and individual freedoms using the State’s coercive power.

While Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge issued an appeal to the citizens to “unitedly take ownership of bringing India back to its constitutional values”, Rahul Gandhi, who is into the 80th day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, tweeted: “Babasaheb urged us to march on the road to unity. I will walk that road long enough, until every word of our Constitution is upheld, and every citizen stands protected by fairness and justice.”

Kharge later led Congress leaders, including Rahul, and thousands of people at B.R. Ambedkar’s birthplace Mhow in Madhya Pradesh in taking a public pledge to save the Constitution. The oath referred to the threat to the constitutional principles and pledged to struggle till the last breath and make any sacrifice to save the Constitution. He reiterated his charge that the RSS was conspiring to destroy the Constitution.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra reached Mhow, after its first diversion from the route of the journey, on Saturday evening. Addressing a massive crowd after the public pledge, Rahul said: “The Tricolour means nothing without the Constitution. One outfit (RSS) didn’t hoist the Tricolour at its office for 52 years. Because the freedom fighters gave their blood (we have) this Constitution. The RSS-BJP can’t destroy the Constitution upfront. They are doing it surreptitiously, fearing a people’s backlash.”

He added: “The Constitution is not merely a document. This is a philosophy that gives India her foundational principles. Institutions flow out of the Constitution. The RSS is filling these institutions with their own people. Judiciary, army, media… everywhere. The objective is to strangle the spirit of the Constitution. The RSS-BJP has spread fear and hate in the country. The Bharat Jodo Yatra is a counter to that project. We will not allow them to destroy the Constitution.”

The reason for this ‘Constitution-centric’ discourse was the hype created about November 26 by the Narendra Modi government, the day the Constituent Assembly approved the draft of the Constitution in 1949. Previous dispensations never celebrated this day because the Constituent Assembly itself decided that the Constitution would be adopted on January 26, 1950, which is Republic Day.

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said Modi had decided to celebrate November 26 as Constitution Day because he desperately wanted to show he respects the Constitution even while subverting it daily in letter and spirit.

Ramesh also recalled the historical fact about the RSS’s lack of respect for the Constitution. Kharge presented a comprehensive critique of the Modi government’s perceived project to undermine the constitutional values to enforce the RSS agenda.

Explaining the growing influence of the RSS on institutions, including the Election Commission and the judiciary, Kharge said in a statement: “The government has completely surrendered itself and its institutions to the diktats of the RSS, an organisation that pushes hateful propaganda under the garb of social service. In fact, it is no longer incorrect to use the terms RSS and BJP interchangeably.”

Kharge added: “Since coming to power, the RSS has used the BJP as a political vehicle on every opportunity to curtail freedoms, enshrined in the Constitution. Illegal has become legal because the fringe has now become mainstream. The foremost tangible spirit of our democracy is being distorted and disrespected by people who are using it as a means to push a completely contrasting agenda.”

He referred to the diminishing space for the Opposition in the media, Parliament and the Assemblies, apart from the trend of tackling dissent by misusing investigative agencies.

Kharge went so far as to say: “Mysterious deaths of judges; their urgent transfers before they were to pronounce judgments; or their hounding when they have stood against the government, hasn’t gone unnoticed by the people of India.”

He added: “On the ground, the BJP-RSS cadre’s only alternative to constructive dialogue is violence. The natural instincts of this group and its messengers are only to subvert, and their only motivation is to divide the country along religious, caste and communal lines.

“Children are given instruction in weapons training, in public spaces and institutions from a young age. Universities have been made a platform to propagate the partisan agenda of the ruling dispensation and strangulate any dissenting view. History books are being rewritten to suit and perpetuate the BJP’s hateful agenda. There is moral surveillance in all public arenas. Citizens and civil society have been mercilessly attacked by the topmost echelons of power, for raising their voice.”

Recalling Ambedkar’s fears, Kharge said: “Babasaheb wrote, ‘Will Indians place the country above their creed or will they place creed above country? I do not know. But this much is certain that if the parties place creed above country, our independence will be put in jeopardy a second time and probably be lost forever. This eventuality we must all resolutely guard against. We must be determined to defend our independence with the last drop of our blood’.”