MUMBAI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday claimed that if the party workers did not save the democracy and Constitution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP and RSS will take the country "on the path of dictatorship."
Kharge was speaking at a public meeting here to mark the 138th foundation day of the Congress.
The Congress was born in Mumbai, he noted, adding that if the party workers did not remain strong and united, free debates and expression of views will cease in the country.
Congress workers should expose the falsehoods peddled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, he said, adding, "It is the duty of each and every Congressman to preserve our democracy and Constitution."
''If we do not do that, the BJP, RSS and prime minister Modi will destroy the country and take it on the path of dictatorship," Kharge added.
Food security, the white revolution and green revolution were the Congress's legacy, and yet the BJP questions what it did in 70 years, he said.
"The Congress protected and preserved the Constitution, which is why Modi is PM today," he said.
The present Maharashtra government came to power through "theft" as MLAs were stolen and "put in a washing machine," Kharge said.
The BJP chooses leaders from the freedom movement selectively with an eye on votes, he alleged.
''I want to ask the BJP if they had the photos of Gandhi, Patel, Netaji Bose, Ambedkar ten years ago," he said.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra has energised the Congress, he said, while asking whether the government was using the excuse of COVID-19 to stop it.