Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday accused the Centre of destroying “every sacred tenet of the Constitution” through authoritarian means.

In an open letter to citizens on the occasion of Republic Day, Kharge accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of practicing “pesudo-nationalism” by making the disadvantaged youth carry the flag of “nationalism”, while not ensuring employment for them.

“There is an inherent tendency to impose ‘One Nation, One Party’ on 140 crore different people, who believe in Unity in Diversity,” the Congress president alleged.

Kharge, who is also the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said that a “vicious hateful agenda immersed in religious fundamentalism” has sought to divide society.

“Minorities are being targeted, and those who are secular are being tarnished by the paint of Goebbelsian propaganda,” he remarked, adding that Dalits, Adivasis, Other Backward Classes and minorities were being “treated as second-class citizens”.

The BJP, Kharge alleged, has unleashed “a continuous degradation of our institution, built carefully over decades”.

“Political interference in autonomous institutions has become a norm,” the Congress chief said. “Exercising control over their independence is being seen as a virtue of power. Federalism is being trampled on a daily basis and the rights of Opposition governed states are being curtailed.”

The Congress leader also alleged that a large section of the media “has been converted as a propaganda tool for the ruling party”, and that the government has been seeking to strangulate dissent by “witch-hunting Opposition leaders”.