Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 2: Even as the Congress refuted the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s criticism of it only making “fake promises,” the BJP on Saturday resumed its attack on the grand old party had lost the ability to govern and the brains of its leaders were so empty that they end up emptying the treasury when in power.
The ruling party asserted that it stood for credibility of promises made to people under Mr Modi’s leadership while the Congress stood for crisis of credibility. The BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters that the ruling party had gradually stepped up the scope of its welfare schemes, ranging from health insurance to free grains and cash transfer for farmers, by resorting to first creation of wealth followed by its distribution as the size of the Indian economy grew over the past decade.
“We believe in first the creation of wealth and distribution. The Congress stands for creation of corruption and destruction of wealth,” he said, citing a host of alleged unfulfilled promises of Congress-led governments in different states.
His attack came even as the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had hit back at Mr Modi stating that the BJP stood for “betrayal” and “jumla” and alleged that “lies, deceit, fakery, loot and publicity” were the five adjectives that best described the Modi government and the Congress chief ministers of Karnataka and Telangana denied the Prime Minister’s claims that their governments were revisitng the poll promises made during the election campaign.
A day after Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that “Modi ki guarantee” was a cruel joke on people after the prime minister had seized on the Congress president’s advice to his state colleagues that they should be guided by budgetary constraints in making poll announcements, the BJP made a fresh charge.
“Was Mr Kharge speaking the truth on Friday or a day before,” Mr Trivedi said mockingly, suggesting that the Congress president’s attack on the BJP was made under pressure to cover up for what he had said earlier. Mr Trivedi cited the construction of the Ram temple, abolition of Article 370, construction of more than 14 crore houses for the poor, opening of over 51 crore Jan Dhan accounts, and India’s tough stand against Pakistan on terrorism under Modi to assert that his government had walked the talk.
As a veteran Congress member who has served in senior positions, Mr Kharge had seen leaders such as PV Narasimha Rao and Pranab Mukherjee, who deftly handled the economy under difficult circumstances, and is now seeing the party under the grip of urban Naxals due to Rahul Gandhi’s influence, Mr Trivedi said.
Rebutting Mr Kharge’s charges on a host of issues, Mr Trivedi said Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) data suggested that its account holders had grown to 25 crore compared to 11 crore a decade ago. He also cited a host of infrastructure work, including the construction of houses for the poor, 74 airports and 37 kilometres of road per day, and asserted that all these activities had led to a lot of employment.
“India is now third in auto manufacturing and second in mobile phones manufacturing and if anyone still cannot see the country’s development, then there is some serious weakness in their sight and mindset,” the BJP spokesperson said. When the BJP was in power in Karnataka, it was the top State in attracting investment while Maharashtra under the Congress-led alliance’s rule had slipped, he said, adding that the situation was reversed after the BJP came to power in the western state while losing under the Congress in the southern state.
“The brains of some parties are so empty that they end up emptying the treasury when in power,” he said. The Congress, Mr Trivedi alleged, had lost the ability to govern, noting that its promise to provide one woman in every household ₹1 lakh annually would have cost the country ₹31 lakh crore even though its entire budget was only about ₹27 lakh crore. It was like a Ponzi scheme promise and could be part of a well thought-out conspiracy as the Congress believes in triggering chaos, he said.
Refuting Mr Modi’s claim, the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said there was no proposal before the Government to revisit the ‘Shakti’ scheme, which provides free bus travel for all women domiciled in the State. “There is no such proposal before the Government, he (Shivakumar) only said what some women are saying. I don’t know; I was not there. I will speak….” CM Siddaramaiah said in response to a question regarding the Deputy CM’s statement earlier about the government revisiting the promise.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said, “There is no situation for revisiting it at the Government level. There is no such intention; there is no such proposal.” Noting that many women had tweeted and emailed him about their willingness to pay for travel and that they don’t want free rides, Mr Shivakumar, addressing an event, had said, “Let’s see, we will all sit and discuss it. They are a section (of women); they may be 5-10%. Let’s see, some have honestly expressed they are ready to pay. Ramalinga Reddy (Transport Minister) and I — we will discuss in the Government, what to do.”
Shakti is one of the five guarantee schemes rolled out by the Congress Government after coming to power last year. It was launched on June 11, 2023, within a month of the Government assuming office. As of October 18, 2024, the state spent ₹7,507.35 crore on the Shakti scheme for the 311.07 crore free rides by the women.
Clarifying that the five guarantees would not be stopped in the State, the Chief Minister blamed the BJP for spreading lies about it. The Congress would not break its promises and the BJP was unable to digest the success of the schemes, he stated. Women were happily travelling in buses for free because of the Shakti scheme. Today, they were travelling to temples, places of tourist importance, visiting relatives and friends.
The Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy described Mr Modi’s comments on the welfare schemes being implemented as misinformed and containing full of factual errors with regard to the Telangana Government. In a post on “X,” Mr Reddy clarified the misconceptions of Mr Modi and explained how the welfare schemes in Telangana were bringing joy to the targeted sections.
Mr Reddy said when the Congress took over on December 7, 2023, there was joy and hope among the people, as they had suffered under a near-decade of BRS misrule. The government, within two days of assuming power, unveiled the delivery of its first and second promise — free bus travel for women across all Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) buses and a healthcare and hospitalisation cover of Rs 10 lakhs under the Rajiv Aarogyasri scheme.
“In the last 11 months, our sisters and mothers of Telangana have travelled without paying a single rupee fare, undertaking over 101 crore free bus trips across the State, saving ₹3,433.36 crore,” he posted. He further said even before completing the first year, the Congress government implemented India’s largest ever state-level farmer-loan waiver, ensuring the ‘Rythe Raju’ (Farmer is King) concept in Telangana. He said 22,22,365 farmers are now free from any loan, living like kings. The government has deposited over ₹18,000 crores into farmers’ accounts in 25 days.
Mr Reddy said women were blessing the Congress government as they get free electricity with no domestic power charge for their homes up to 200 units. Similarly, unlike the BJP-ruled states, the gas cylinder is being supplied at ₹500 to family households. “So far, 1.31 crore gas cylinder refills have taken place, with over 42,90,246 beneficiaries smiling their way to the kitchen every day,” Mr Reddy said.
He further said that, after over a decade of BRS failure to conduct recruitment exams, the Congress government has done the highest recruitment drive and is regularly holding exams of all levels — Groups 1, 2, 3 and 4. “In less than 11 months, the Congress government has provided jobs for over 50,000 eligible youth, a record unmatched by any BJP state government.”
