http://www.timesofindia.com/today/07indi23.htm
The Times of India News Service

NEW DELHI: BSP leaders Mayawati and Kanshiram on Wednesday accused the Vajpayee government of reviewing the Constitution ``only to ensure the survival of minority governments'' in future. The ruling establishment, they told a massive rally here, were determined to tamper with the Constitution because there was no possibility of its getting a clear majority in the near future.

Kanshiram claimed that there was no provision in the statute for setting up a review commission for the Constitution.

In political terms, the BSP accusation could well be a bombshell at a time when the BJP has made a determined move to grow horizontally by aligning with marginalised segments like the dalits and backwards. The charge that the Constitution was being reviewed only to make sure that a government without a clear majority could complete the full five-year term, might put the BJP on the defensive before the next round of assembly elections next year.

Kanshiram warned that his party would take the issue to the streets if no discussion in Parliament was possible. The rally itself marked the culmination of a nationwide campaign kicked off by the party in Kanyakumari in March.

The real import of the BSP accusation, however, had a link to the impending political battle for power in Uttar Pradesh. The BSP, one of the three major contenders for power in the state, made it clear that it would use the issue to project the BJP as a Manuwadi (upper-caste) party.

The date of the rally too was significant. While for the rest of the political spectrum December 6 was the anniversary of the Ayodhya demolition eight years ago, for the BSP faithful it was the death anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.