Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 1: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a frontal attack on the Congress for its “unfulfilled promises” in the states the party in power and said the party was committing “terrible deceit” on the people by making unrealistic promises during the election campaign.
Hitting out at the party, Mr Modi said the Congress was now realising the hard way that making “unreal” promises during election campaigns was easy but implementing them properly was tough or impossible.
Mr Modi’s attack came after the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge reportedly advised the party’s state units to make only those promises which were financially viable. “Campaign after campaign they promise things to the people, which they also know they will never be able to deliver. Now, they stand badly exposed in front of the people! FakePromisesOfCongress,” Mr Modi said in a series of posts on X.
“Check any State where the Congress has governments today – Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana – the developmental trajectory and fiscal health is turning from bad to worse. Their so-called guarantees lie unfulfilled, which is a terrible deceit upon the people of these States,” the Prime Minister said.
The Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, however, strongly refuted the BJP’s charge. “We are implementing our promises; that is the model of the Congress. In Karnataka, whatever we promised we are implementing, anybody can examine it. The Prime Minister’s statement is plainly wrong,” Mr Venugopal told the media.
Stating that the victims of such politics were the poor, youngsters, farmers, and women, who were not only denied the benefits of those promises but also saw their existing schemes being diluted, Mr Modi said, “In Karnataka, Congress is busier in intra-party politics and loot instead of even bothering to deliver on development. Not only that, they are also going to rollback existing schemes.”
“In Himachal Pradesh, salaries of government workers is not paid on time. In Telangana, farmers are waiting for the waiver they promised. Previously, in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan they promised certain allowances which were never implanted for five years. There are numerous such examples of how the Congress works,” Mr Modi said.
The Prime Minister said people should be “vigilant against the Congress-sponsored culture of fake promises.” “We saw recently how the people of Haryana rejected their lies and preferred a government that is stable, progress oriented and action driven. There is a growing realisation across India that a vote for Congress is a vote for non-governance, poor economics, and unparalleled loot. The people of India want development and progress, not the same old…,” he said.
At a press conference earlier, BJP MP and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad referred to Mr Kharge’s remarks to say that the Congress chief had now realised that announcements should not be made without proper financial/budgetary provisions. “Now the question arises whether he has passed this lesson on to their leader Rahul Gandhi or not,” Mr Prasad said.
A new term ‘khata-khat [swift]’ was introduced by Mr Gandhi. This khata-khat has been going on for many elections, but he is known for making announcements and then moving on,” he said. The BJP leader said Mr Gandhi had made several promises in Himachal Pradesh, where now the situation was such that the Chief Minister was telling Ministers and legislators to stop taking salaries. The state of affairs was similar in Karnataka and Telangana, he said.
“We proudly declare that if we have promised ₹6,000 annually to 11 crore farmers, then the PM presses a button and the money reaches their accounts. If we provide 80 crore people with five kg of wheat and rice, it reaches them too. When we spoke of Digital India, it became a reality on the ground. The same goes for digital payments,” he said.
He sought an apology from Mr Kharge and Mr Gandhi for the “false” announcements made in Telangana, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh. “The BJP would like to convey to the voters of Maharashtra and Jharkhand that the Congress party members should refrain from making baseless announcements. Do clarify where these promises are coming from,” the BJP leader said.
