BJP’s agenda is to change the Constitution: Sushil Kumar Shinde

Hubballi: Former Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters in Hubballi on Friday that the agenda of the BJP is to change the Constitution and remove the benefits provided to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. He cited the example of the amendment of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 2016 where the Central Government filed a review petition in the Supreme Court only after a Bharat Bandh.

He said that the BJP leaders, starting from Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Narendra Modi, have always been planning amendments to the Constitution, especially to the sections on reservation and social welfare. He accused the BJP of not assisting the development of the SCs, STs, backward classes and Dalits and alleged that the number of Dalits employed in the Central Government led by the BJP had decreased dramatically.

Former Union Minister Mukul Wasnik felt that the poor, the underpriviledged and the minorities are not granted their basic fundamental rights under the rule of the BJP. “Six Dalit women are raped every day. Twelve atrocity cases are registered every single day. This means that these sections of the society are deprived of fundamental rights provided under the Constitution”, Mr. Mukul said.