Rahul waves copy of Constitution at Jharkhand rally, says ‘ready to sacrifice life to protect it’

New Delhi : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that this election is about Adivasis, Dalits and the backwards and made a promise to the electorate to ‘save the Constitution’ even if it comes at the cost of his life.

Addressing a public gathering in Jharkhand’s Singhbhum, Rahul waved a copy of the Constitution from the stage and said, “This is not an ordinary book, this is the Constitution - the voice of the Adivasis, the Dalits, the backwards and the poor.”

He accused the BJP and RSS of hatching a plot to destroy the Constitution and said that it is his guarantee that he and his party won’t allow it to happen.

“I am ready to sacrifice my life for the protection of the Constitution,” he told the gathering.

He said that this election is important for the future of the Dalits, the Adivasis, the backwards and the poor as all the rights like reservation, education, healthcare etc are granted and protected by the Constitution only.

He added that the Constitution is not just a book but a guiding principle for the citizens and claimed that the BJP wants to “tear” it.

“If the Constitution goes, everything will go along with it,” he said and asserted that Congress and the INDIA bloc are fighting it out together to nullify the “evil designs” of BJP.

Gandhi greeted the people at the rally with ‘Johar’ saying, he did not say ‘Namaskar’ as people in Jharkhand use ‘Johar’ to greet each other.

He said that the BJP calls them ‘Vanvasis’, which means that they are just inhabitants of the jungle without any rights while the Congress sees them as ‘Adivasis’ which means they are the original owners of the forest, its land and resources and have the first right on everything there.

Referring to Congress guarantees, he said that his party will make crores of ‘lakhpatis’ (millionaires) and one woman in every poor family will receive Rs one lakh every year.

“The youth will access to ‘pehli naukri pakki’, under the Right to Apprenticeship under which every fresh graduate and a diploma holder will be entitled to get a one-year apprenticeship with a guaranteed income of Rs one lakh,” he said.

“The farmers' debt will be waived off and they will get the legal guarantee for the MSP on the crops,” he added.