'The Constitution is under attack by the BJP': Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: In his first address as Congress president, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday marked a clear distinction between his party and the BJP. “The Congress accepts the truth and fights for it, while the BJP believes that a lie can be used for political benefit.

“What is happening in our country today is a web of deceit. The BJP is operating on the basic idea that a lie can be used for political benefit,” Rahul said addressing the 133rd foundation day of the Congress at the AICC headquarters here.

“The central idea of the Congress is the truth. We accept the truth, we work with the truth and we fight for the truth… this is the difference between us and them,” the Congress president added. “We might suffer, we might not do well, we might even lose, but we will not give up the truth. And that is the difference between the Congress party and them,” he said.

Keeping up his attack on the Modi government, Rahul said that the Constitution was under attack both directly and surreptitiously and it was the duty of the Congress to defend it. Rahul’s statement comes on a day when Parliament witnessed an uproar for the second consecutive day over Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde’s reported remarks about the Modi government planning to review the Constitution and his questioning of the “parentage of secularists”.

“One of the most important moments in our history was the day we got our Constitution… It is distressing to see that this document, the foundation of our country given to us by the Congress party, given to us by Mr Ambedkar is under attack. It is under attack directly. Statements are being made by senior members of the BJP and it is under attack surreptitiously from the back,” Rahul said.