Fadnavis says country needs Modi, accuses Rahul Gandhi of building ultra-leftist system

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the country needs Modi and that he has taken to the streets to save democracy. According to him, this fight is not against Modi, the BJP or the NDA but is a hidden war. Fadnavis said the Constitution must endure as long as the moon and the sun exist. He also appealed to people of all ideologies to join the fight.

Fadnavis alleged that the Congress wants to bring in a government of ultra-leftist ideas. He said Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had shown how democracy is to be saved. Of Rahul Gandhi, he said Gandhi wants to build an ultra-leftist system.

Addressing Rahul Gandhi directly, Fadnavis said this is India and Babasaheb's Constitution holds here. In his words: "Your grandmother tried. She was strong, she was a leader, yet she could not finish the Constitution, so who do you think you are, Rahul Gandhi?" Fadnavis said this fight is not the BJP's but the country's Constitution's. He asked people to take a pledge not to stop until the crisis is over.

According to Fadnavis, under an international conspiracy the Congress's immature youngsters are holding marches every day so that the constitutional order ends. He said changing the political system and the institutions of the entire country is called regime change. Fadnavis claimed regime change took place in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and the Constitution was changed there. He said that when asked four times, the answer was yes, regime change is wanted. Fadnavis said he does not know whether Uddhav Thackeray understands what it means, but Thackeray said the same. He added that regime change would not be allowed to happen, even if it cost the last drop of blood.

Citing history, Fadnavis said the Congress repeatedly trampled democracy. He said Indira Gandhi's election was declared invalid and the Supreme Court also found merit in the case. According to him, she could remain Prime Minister but could not speak or vote in the Lok Sabha. Fadnavis said the Congress, using brute majority, placed the Prime Minister above the Constitution. He said fundamental rights were suspended in 1976 and the route to the Supreme Court was closed. In 1977, he said, Morarji Bhai and Atal Bihari amended the Constitution to bring the Prime Minister below it and restored fundamental rights.

Fadnavis said these designs are not of today and that Indira Gandhi's grandson has now begun the same work. Taking a dig at the Congress, he said, "The bottle is new, the liquor is the same."

On the red and blue Constitution, he said they carry the red one while "we had seen the blue". According to Fadnavis, this is the red book that brought regime change in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, and the same book is being used to spread anarchy in France and Denmark. He said they show a copy of the Constitution but there is nothing inside. He also said marches were taken out against the RBI, commissions and the Supreme Court, that they do not seek justice but hold marches, and that this had never happened in the country before.

On intellectuals, Fadnavis said he was surprised. In his words, they are "for sale", forever saying democracy is in danger and prattling against Modi. He said that if an institution does not deliver justice, they say to break it, which means breaking the Constitution, and that this is their aim.