Seizing on the remarks by the party's South Goa candidate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hit out at the party and Rahul Gandhi, accusing them of insulting BR Ambedkar's Constitution and attempting to break the country. Addressing a public meeting on Monday, Congress's South Goa candidate Viriato Fernandes had said the Indian Constitution was "forced" on Goa after its liberation from Portuguese rule and that he had said as much to senior party leader Rahul Gandhi ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.