A young man who should have been proudly guarding India’s borders with a rifle in his arms is now a waiter at a Hyderabad hotel. This is the story of Ranjit, one among the 1.5 lakh selected youths who were not eventually recruited to the army because the Narendra Modi government unexpectedly introduced the Agnipath scheme.

As luck would have it, the chairman of the Congress’s ex-servicemen department, Col Rohit Chaudhry, ran into Ranjit at a hotel in Hyderabad after the party’s manifesto release on Saturday evening.

Posting Ranjit’s photograph on X, Chaudhry captioned it saying Modi had put plates in hands that should have been holding guns on the country's borders.

Chaudhry wrote that Ranjit, a waiter at Golconda Hotel in Hyderabad, met him and said he had been selected by the army but his recruitment was stopped in 2022 when the Modi government brought in the Agnipath scheme.

But, Chaudhry said, Ranjit hasn’t lost hope as the Congress has taken up the cause of the 1.5 lakh youths who have faced this injustice.

In its manifesto, the Congress has promised to scrap the Agnipath scheme and restore the previous process of recruitment to the armed forces.

The Prime Minister and the BJP chose not to engage with the Congress on these issues and instead made vague allegations of the manifesto having a “Muslim League imprint”.

This charge has caused anguish among the Congress leadership, which is convinced that the Prime Minister deliberately chose his metaphors to whip up communal sentiments.

Asked about Modi’s remark, the chairman of the manifesto committee, P. Chidambaram, told The Telegraph over the phone from Tamil Nadu: “What does Mr Modi mean by Muslim League imprint? Is it wrong to speak for a section of the people (who are Indians) who feel discriminated against? By that measure, the Congress’s manifesto has an OBC imprint, a Dalit imprint, an Adivasi imprint, a women’s imprint, a farmers’ imprint and so on.”

Rahul Gandhi on Sunday described the manifesto as a “revolutionary document” and sought feedback from citizens. Senior party leaders said the response from various sections of society was positive, with many arguing that this could change India if implemented sincerely.

Rahul said: “Narendra Modi has the power of billionaires behind him, we have the trust of kisan-mazdoor with us. Modi has lies and false propaganda, we have the resolve of the panch nyay. He has the strength of electoral bonds, we have the contributions from fellow citizens. He has the ED, CBI, and income tax (department), we have the love of the people. History bears testimony — truth and love triumph in the end. Modi is losing this election, INDIA is winning.”

Rahul was referring to the Congress’s promise of a new justice regime involving kisan nyay, nari nyay, yuva nyay, mazdoor nyay and hissedari nyay.

Political observers feel that the Congress has finally produced an important and path-breaking document. The manifesto, called Nyay Patra, does point to divisive politics and offers a healing touch, stating that “the Congress has been the bulwark against illiberalism and authoritarianism. We promise you greater freedom, faster growth, more equitable development and justice for all.”

On Modi’s remarks, academic Zoya Hasan said: “It is not expected of a Prime Minister to react to the manifesto of the main Opposition party in this language. It raises the doubt whether he chose to drag the Muslim League into this to create communal polarisation. He should explain whether promising a law for MSP or promising a higher minimum wage for MGNREGA workers stinks of the ‘tukde tukde gang’. What is divisive about talking of nari nyay and yuva nyay?”

Hasan added: “This indicates that the ruling dispensation is rattled by the Congress manifesto, which offers a robust alternative agenda of progressive politics and policies. The Congress has gone beyond criticising Modi and the BJP. It has presented imaginative policies that can be implemented and offers concrete policies for every section of society.”

While the BJP hasn’t clearly articulated what constitutes the Muslim League vision in the manifesto, the Sangh Parivar has referred to the mention of “personal law” to raise an objection.