Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 18: The Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of inciting people and dividing society through his election speeches.
Addressing media persons ahead of the fifth and final phase of Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra along with other INDIA bloc leaders, Mr Kharge said no other Prime Minister before Mr Modi had ever incited people like he does. “He talks about democracy but doesn’t follow its principles,” he criticised.
On the other hand, Mr Modi while making a strong pitch for re-electing a “strong” government said the Congress is afraid of Pakistan holding an atom bomb but in last 10 years Modi’s strong government had made the same Pakistan hold a “begging bowl”.
The PM’s comments come in the wake of an old video of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar surfacing in which he is heard saying India should give respect to Pakistan because it has an atom bomb, and a similar remark by Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, which is also an INDIA bloc member.
Addressing a rally in Haryana’s Ambala on Saturday, Mr Modi said, “When the country has a ‘dhaakad’ (strong) government, even the enemy thinks 100 times before doing anything. You can see that the same Pakistan which was troubling India for 70 years and held bombs in its hands, now holds a ‘bheenkh ka katora’ (begging bowl). When there is a ‘dhaakad’ government, this is how the enemy trembles.”
The other INDIA bloc leaders present at the Mumbai presser included NCP (SP) patriarch Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and AICC in-charge of Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala. As many as 13 Lok Sabha seats in the State, including six seats in Mumbai, are going to polls on May 20. Prime Minister Modi and the Opposition bloc leaders held two mega rallies in the city on Friday.
When asked about Mr Modi’s repeated campaign that the Congress would reinstate Article 370 if INDIA bloc come to power, Mr Kharge said, “I am not answerable to Modi. We will implement what we have promised in our manifesto.”
He further accused the Prime Minister of creating societal divisions wherever he goes. “Modi had labelled the Congress manifesto first as a “Muslim League manifesto” and now as a “Maoist manifesto. First, let him have clarity on what he’s saying. He’s fooling people… Our party is centrist working on the ideology of Nehru. In fact, Modi is like Mao, who keeps attacking people,” he said.
In response to another question about Mr Modi’s claim that Congress would bulldoze the Ram temple in Ayodhya if came to power, Mr Kharge said, “We have never used a bulldozer on anyone, Bulldozer is BJP’s culture, not ours. Modi lies and incites people with false accusations about Congress.” The AICC chief assured that constitutional reservations would continue under their government. “They [BJP] are trying to portray us as deshdrohi [traitors] and themselves as deshbhakt [patriots],” he said.
Further, he called the Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led MahaYuti government “an illegal” government and claimed that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) would secure at least 46 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the western State.
While Mr Thackeray said, “Modi’s ‘Achhe din’ [good days] will begin from June 4 when the INDIA bloc-led government takes charge.” He also criticised the PM for calling them the ‘nakli’ [duplicate] Shiv Sena and suggested Mr Modi might next call the RSS ‘fake.’ “They call us nakli Shiv Sena, tomorrow he may call RSS as nakli Sangh. They’re on a mission to even finish its ideology parent, the RSS.” the former Chief Minister said, pointing out at BJP President JP Nadda’s interview published in an English daily. Mr Thackeray alleged that the BJP is using narratives like ‘Pakistan flags in our rally’ to divert attention from issues like unemployment.
M Pawar said the INDIA bloc would protect all religious places if elected. Mr Kharge also mentioned that their government would implement a simple, single-rate GST, replacing the current GST system. He accused Mr Modi of taking credit for initiatives like the Food Security Act, which Congress had introduced.