In Nagpur on Monday, October 12, 2026, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis launched a pointed political broadside — accusing Rahul Gandhi and the INDIA alliance of actively repudiating the very document they claim to champion: the Constitution of India.

Posting from Nagpur — the city that is simultaneously the winter capital of Maharashtra and the ideological heartland of the RSS — Fadnavis wrote in both Marathi and Hindi: 'Rahul Gandhi aani Indi Aghadi ne Bharatache Samvidhan nakaranyache kaam kele aahe' ('Rahul Gandhi and the INDIA alliance have done the work of rejecting India's Constitution'). The bilingual framing — Marathi for the home crowd, Hindi for a national audience — signals this is not a local jab. It is a nationally aimed salvo.

The Constitution as political battlefield

The allegation is a direct inversion of a narrative the Congress party and the INDIA bloc have prosecuted aggressively since the 2024 general elections: that it is the BJP-led government which poses an existential threat to constitutional values, federalism, and minority rights. Rahul Gandhi memorably carried a pocket edition of the Constitution during the Lok Sabha campaign, making it a central symbol of the opposition's pitch to voters.

Fadnavis's charge flips that script entirely. By accusing the opposition of rejecting the Constitution, he attempts to seize the document's moral authority — a high-stakes rhetorical manoeuvre in a political environment where the Constitution has become the single most contested symbol in Indian public life.

Nagpur, October 12 — timing and terrain

The choice of Nagpur as the backdrop is rarely accidental in Maharashtra politics. As the winter legislative capital and a BJP stronghold, it lends institutional weight to political statements made there. The post was timed to the evening of October 12, suggesting it may accompany or follow a public address or event in the city — though the specific occasion is not detailed in the post.

What is clear is the strategic intent: with Maharashtra's political climate perennially charged, and with state-level and national-level positioning intertwined, the Chief Minister is using the platform to frame the INDIA bloc as constitutionally illegitimate — a framing that, if it sticks, cuts at the opposition's core electoral argument.

Whether the charge lands or rebounds will depend on what evidence Fadnavis marshals in the public domain. For now, the gauntlet is on the table — and the Constitution, once again, is at the centre of the fight.