Congress is playing with fire by attempting Hindu-Muslim divide: Rajnath Singh

New Delhi, May 5 (PTI) Rahul Gandhi has “no fire but the Congress is playing with fire” by attempting to create a Hindu-Muslim divide for electoral gains, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said here even as he asserted that the NDA will cross the 400-seat mark in Lok Sabha polls and the BJP will improve its tally in most of the states.

In a free-wheeling interview to PTI, Singh also indicated that the BJP will implement its big-ticket plans like rolling out of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and the ‘One Nation One Election’ push in its third consecutive term. The defence minister, who has been vigorously campaigning across the country, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi does not have the fire in his belly to put up a spirited fight in the polls. Singh also said that the BJP government will never change the Constitution or end reservations, and accused the Congress of creating “fear psychosis” and resorting to spreading misinformation for “vote-bank” politics. The defence minister blasted Congress for spreading “canards” that the BJP will change the Constitution if it returns to power and especially stressed that there was no question of changing the Preamble of the Constitution.

His assurance that the Preamble will not be changed addresses concerns among critics that the word ‘secular’ to describe India could be removed by the BJP if it retains power.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been alleging that BJP will “tear up and throw away” the Constitution if it retains power. Some other Congress functionaries had expressed apprehensions that the BJP may drop the word “secular” from the Preamble of the Constitution. “Congress brought constitutional amendments 80 times. They changed the Preamble during the Emergency,” the defence minister said. “The BJP will never change the Constitution. Constitution- makers never imagined that there would be changes in the Preamble. You (Congress) only acted to hurt the core idea of the Constitution,” he said in the interview on Saturday.

“There is no question of changing the Preamble of the Constitution. They changed it and now they are making baseless allegations against us,” the BJP leader added.

The Preamble to the Constitution of India presents the basic principles of the Constitution. The 42nd Amendment in 1976 changed the description of India from a “sovereign democratic republic” to a “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic”.

“They (Congress) are trying to get people’s support by instilling fear among the citizens,” Singh said. Attacking Congress, he said former Pakistani minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain’s “praise” of Rahul Gandhi is a matter of “grave concern” and his party must explain the “deep love” for its leader from a country that always attempted to destabilise India. “There must be a reason behind this deep love (agadh prem) from a country that has been trying to destabilise India. It is a matter of grave concern and India wants to know the reason behind this love,” he said. Chaudhry — infamous for boasting about Pakistan’s hand in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack — had on May 1 posted on ‘X’ excerpts from a speech by Gandhi with the caption “Rahul on fire” that drew sharp criticism from BJP leaders. “If a former minister of a country that has been attempting to destabilise India praises (Rahul), then it is a matter of concern. The Congress owes an explanation about its relationship with Pakistan,” the defence minister said.

On the overall political landscape, the defence minister accused the Congress of attempting to disturb social harmony and trying to create tensions on the religious lines.

“They are attempting to create a Hindu-Muslim divide for electoral gains. The Congress is trying to create tensions on the religious lines,” he alleged.

“The Congress wants to disturb social harmony. They look at the Muslim community only as a vote bank. I have a suggestion for them — politics should not be done only for forming governments. The aim of politics should be for nation-building,” he said.

“Rahul Gandhi has no fire but the Congress is playing with fire,” he said.

The defence minister also said that he was confident that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would cross 400 seats and the BJP would get over 370 as these projections were made after a detailed assessment of the ground situation and not made only for public consumption.

Singh said the people of the country will repose their faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP’s tally will improve significantly based on the performance of the government in the last five years.

“Our seats will increase in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and we will get some seats in Tamil Nadu. Our account will open in Kerala as well. We are winning a good number of seats in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,” he said.

“We will increase our tally in Odisha, Jharkhand and Assam. We are sweeping Chhattisgarh,” he said, noting that BJP will cross the 370-mark.

The defence minister said the BJP is set to win up to 75 seats in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.

Asked whether the BJP’s seats in Maharashtra will come down, he did not give a direct reply but said there may be some adjustments here and there.

The BJP leader also came down hard on the Congress for its plan to “redistribute” wealth, saying it will have disastrous consequences for the country’s economy.

“The concept of redistribution of wealth will trigger recession. Argentina and Venezuela implemented it and faced disastrous consequences. The investors will lose confidence in India,” Singh said.

On the BJP’s big-ticket plans like the implementation of UCC and ‘One Nation One Poll’ push in if it retains power, Singh said his party fulfils promises that it makes to the people of India. In its manifesto, the BJP pledged to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) if it returns to power after the general elections. It also mentioned that the party will move forward with a resolve to realise the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’ “We always fulfil our commitments. We will never allow any question mark on our credibility and will not compromise on the country’s unity and integrity. We implement whatever we say in our manifesto. We have to do whatever we say,” Singh said.

“We will go for ‘One Nation One Election. We will take views of every quarter including all political parties on it,” he said. On UCC, the defence minister said even the Constitution-makers felt a need for it, as it is mentioned in the directive principles.

“The Congress wants to create fear psychosis; they want to use the Hindu-Muslim card,” he said. “They do not have any issue. They want to form a government by dividing the society in the name of caste, creed and religion and they have always done it,” he alleged. Asked about the relatively lower voting percentage that ranged from 66-67 per cent in the first two phases of the elections, Singh said it was not a matter of concern for the BJP. The defence minister said the opposition parties are not being able to enthuse their supporters to come out and vote. On the issue of reservation, Singh alleged that the Congress is misleading the nation.

“The Congress is trying to mislead people. There will not be any end to reservations. They are making false allegations against us,” Singh said. The Congress has also asked the BJP leaders to clear the party’s stance on whether it would remove the 50 per cent cap on reservation for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the Other Backward Classes. “We will not tinker with the reservations at all,” Singh said while replying to a query. The Congress has promised to remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SC, ST and OBC.