"Who Played With Constitution First - Nehru": PM Modi Attacks Gandhis

Slamming Congress and the Gandhi family over amending the Constitution during their tenure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that till the time he is alive, he won't allow anyone to play with the basic fundamentals of the Constitution.

Prime Minister Modi said that four members of the Gandhi family- former Prime Ministers Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi fiddled with the Constitution for their own political goals.

When asked in an interview with India Today on the Opposition claims that the Constitution will be rewritten if BJP is voted to power, Prime Minister Modi said, "The question that should be asked- who was the first to play with the Constitution? Pandit Nehru did. He brought the first amendment which was meant to restrict freedom of speech. His daughter (Indira Gandhi) then overturned the court verdict by bringing an amendment. Then her son (Rajiv Gandhi) came and overturned Shah Bano's verdict. He changed the Constitution."

"He brought a law to restrict media. The opposition was strong, and the media was also growing strong. they said they will not allow the imposition of another emergency. this scared him and he had to withdraw," he added.

He further slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for tearing apart a copy of the ordinance which was passed by the Union Cabinet in 2013. The ordinance was later withdrawn by Manmohan Singh led government.

"Then his son (Rahul Gandhi) came, a remote control government was being run at that time, they had a PM of their choice. A Cabinet formed as per the Constitution took a decision, a Shehzada came and publically tore apart the cabinet decision. Later Cabinet also overturned its decision," he said.

PM Modi further assured that reservations based on religion will not be allowed under his tenure.

"Four members of the same family destroyed the Constitution at different times. Until Modi is alive, I will not allow any change in the basic fundamentals of the Constitution. I won't allow reservation based on religion, you already partitioned a country on the basis of religion," he said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that if the Bharatiya Janata Party wins the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and tries to change the Constitution, then the whole nation will be set on fire.

"If the BJP wins these match-fixed elections, and changes the Constitution, the whole country will be on fire. Remember this," Gandhi said at an election rally in Delhi.

Former Union Minister and BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde said that his party needs a total of 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls if any changes are to be made in the Constitution.

Hegde called for re-writing of the Constitution stating that Congress earlier made changes to the Constitution to oppress the Hindu society and to undo that "act" his party needs a two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as well as in states.

"They (Congress) have changed the Constitution and brought laws to oppress the entire Hindu society. If all this is to be changed, it will not happen with this minority vote. Both sides need a two-thirds majority. This time PM Modi has said that we should win more than 400 seats. Why 400? We have a majority in the Lok Sabha, but not in the Rajya Sabha. We need 400 seats to make any changes in the Constitution," the BJP MP said on Saturday.

"We need a two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and also in the states. Just the majority in Lok Sabha is not enough," he added.

BJP distanced itself from the remarks made by Anantkumar Hegde and said that his remarks do not reflect the party's stance.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)