Lok Sabha elections 2024: The other side of ‘400 paar’

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule (centre right) at a public meeting in Akola. Pic/PTI

BJP's top leader, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and party's General Secretary Vinod Tawde vehemently denied the allegation on Tuesday that their party had resolved to cross the 400 mark in the Lok Sabha because it wanted to change the Constitution. The BJP leadership has been giving such a clarification in election rallies and campaigns. It matters most in the states like Maharashtra where the Ambedkarites have found resonance with the Opposition bloc's allegations that the real purpose of ‘Abki baar 400 paar' was to alter the Indian Constitution, which was drafted under the leadership of Dalit icon Dr B R Ambedkar.

Countering the Opposition, Shah said in Vidarbha rallies that BJP had, in the past 10 years, used its majority in the Lok Sabha to create anti-terror measures, to abrogate Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and to scrap triple talaq. He said, if voted to power, the Congress would restore what the BJP had scrapped.

Tawde recalled that the Constitution was amended 80 times in the Congress regime. He said, "Congress is spreading false propaganda against the BJP. A Congress candidate in Goa - with permission from Rahul Gandhi - had demanded that the Constitution should not be implemented in his state, while a Congress leader from Karnataka had made a similar demand a few days ago. It shows that the Congress has no respect for the Constitution." He further said that the Modi government celebrated Constitution Day, and BJP's manifesto was released on the birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar. "It shows the BJP's respect for Dr Ambedkar and the Constitution."

Meanwhile, reports coming in from the hinterland said that the Ambedkarite organisations, writers, thinkers and activists, were holding meetings in the Dalit-dominated areas to echo the Opposition's concerns. Similar reports were received before the first phase of voting in eastern Vidarbha and Nagpur, where the ‘DMK' (Dalit, Muslim and Kunbi) factor is said to have worked. The Dalits there were simply told that, if voted to power, the BJP would change Dr Ambedkar's Constitution.

In the second phase of voting in Vidarbha and parts of Marathwada, the Opposition has spoken of the same formula. In Akola, where Dr Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar is contesting, and in adjoining Amravati, which is reserved for Scheduled Castes, the threat to Ambedkarism and the Constitution was one of the main poll planks (as it was evident in Nagpur, Ramtek-SC and other segments). The second phase of voting will take place on Friday (April 26), followed by three more rounds on May 7, May 13 and May 20. The ‘400 paar' tagline that was devised to inspire the BJP cadre has instead acted as a booster for the Opposition bloc, not only in Maharashtra but also in other states.

Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore

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