Hyderabad, Jan 18 (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday criticised the BJP, alleging that the party posed a threat to democracy and the Constitution.

Addressing a public meeting organised by the Communist Party of India (CPI) at Khammam as part of its centenary celebrations, he accused the BJP of attempting to snatch the voting rights of the poor in the name of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and alleged that the saffron party is conspiring to permanently remain in power.

The Chief Minister said that the BJP poses the same threat which was once posed by the British.

Stating that the 140-year-old Congress party and the 100-year-old CPI were in the forefront of India’s freedom struggle, he called for a united fight against the ‘fascist BJP regime’ at the Centre to save democracy and the Constitution.

He accused the BJP of making indirect attempts to change the Constitution after failing to get 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress leader alleged that the BJP was trying to take away the voting rights of the poor in the name of SIR. He claimed that Golwalkar was against voting rights for the poor but B.R. Ambedkar gave voting rights to every citizen.

“Now BJP is using SIR to snatch the voting rights of the poor. Those who were born and brought up in the country are being deprived of the voting right,” he said, and warned that the poor will lose ration cards and the benefits of all the government schemes.

The Chief Minister also came down heavily on the Modi government for scrapping the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP), which was brought by the Congress and Communist parties. He claimed that this scheme had ended migration of workers by providing them assured employment in their respective villages.

The Chief Minister said that Congress and Communists fought together to achieve independence for the country. He said while Communists fought with the slogan of land to tillers, Congress brought a legislation for the same.

He paid tributes to the comrades who declared that they would rather sacrifice their lives in the struggle for the rights of the poor than abandon the red flag. He recalled that the Communists fought for farmers, farm labourers, Dalits and tribals. He said the Communists fought for a minimum support price for farmers.

–IANS

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