KERALA: Ahead of the upcoming bye-election in Kerala’s Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that there are forces trying to “destroy” the Constitution.
He said that these forces want to “divide the country along religious, linguistic, and regional lines,” and emphasized that this will never be allowed to happen.
Speaking at an election rally in Malappuram’s Areekode in support of Congress’ candidate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, he also criticized the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government for failing to establish a proper medical college in the region, despite ongoing pressure from his party.
“There are forces that are trying to destroy the Constitution of India. They want to divide India between religions, languages and between different states and we are never ever going to allow them to do that. Wayanad has some difficulties. It has the night traffic ban issue, it has the medical college issue, it has the man-animal conflict issue. We put a lot of pressure on the state government for the medical college but I am sad to say that we still do not have a proper medical college here,” said Gandhi.
Gandhi, former MP from Wayanad, also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he failed to financially support the constituency when the tragedy hit. Recently, various villages in Wayanad districts suffered major landslides due to heavy downpours.
“You saw Prime Minister came to Wayanad when we had the tragedy, but he did not support Wayanad financially. This is an election to elect your member of parliament and I am very happy and very proud that the UDF candidate is Priyanka Gandhi, my sister. I am very confident that she will do whatever I did, she will do for you,” he said.
Gandhi stated that the constituency will have two members of Parliament, instead of one, implying that he remains committed to the people of the district even though Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been fielded as the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.
“Officially you will have a new member of parliament but Wayanad will also be the only constituency in the country that will have two members of parliament. So every other constituency has one door going into parliament, you will have two doors going into parliament,” he said while addressing the gathering.
Gandhi emphasised the point that they are fighting a political battle where the fight is between those who want to defend the Constitution and those who want to destroy it.
“The truth is that we are fighting a political battle. The main fight that is taking place in the country is the fight between those who want to defend the Constitution and those who want to destroy the Constitution. The Constitution does not care which state you come from, does not care whether you are male or female, does not care what language you speak, does not care what religion you are, it respects every single person,” he said.
The by-election to Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency is scheduled to be held on November 13.
