Union minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday said the Congress was using all types of tricks -- fear, confusion, rumour and now deepfake -- for its propaganda.
He refuted the Congress' charge that democracy was under threat or that reservations will be taken away by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
"It was during the Congress regime that democracy was finished by imposing Emergency," Thakur told PTI Videos at Lucknow airport.
The minister is in Uttar Pradesh to attend several programmes, including filing of nominations by party leaders.
"Congress is using fear, confusion, rumour, deepfake and all kinds of tricks. The way foreign powers try to destabilise any country, the Congress is using all kinds of tricks for its propaganda," he said.
The BJP has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the Congress alleging that it circulated the "deepfake and morphed" video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to derail the poll process, and demanded strict action against the party.
"They (Congress) have been lying constantly. They say reservation will be finished, democracy will be finished. The Modi government ruled for 10 years, there was no talk of reservation. It will never end in the Modi regime. We have given the rights to SC, ST and OBC. On the other hand, the Congress has snatched their rights," Thakur said.
Reservation is under threat in Congress-ruled states, such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telengana, he said.
"Congress humiliated Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. It was in the Modi regime that Constitution Day was celebrated and 'Panch Teerth' were made. Our slogan is 'sabka saath sabka vikas'," he said.
Thakur said Uttar Pradesh will create a new record and play an important role in achieving the "400 paar" target in this year's Lok Sabha elections.
"Be it in 2014 or 2019, UP played a role. We have to take the achievements of the Modi government to every household," he said.
The minister also said that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi may have joined hands again but the two 'shehzadas' "will not be able to do much".
He also questioned the Congress for allegedly not acting against MP Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda who was on Tuesday suspended by the JD(S) over an alleged sex scandal.
"Strict action should be initiated irrespective of his (Revanna) family or political party. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Karge, who belongs to Karnataka and where his government is in power, why an action was not taken to arrest him (Revanna)," Thakur said.
The BJP leader paid obeisance to Ram Lalla at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
"I prayed for 'Ek bharat shreshth bharat' and for a developed country," Thakur said.
On being asked if Rahul Gandhi will also be paying a visit to the Ram temple, Thakur said, "I want to say that those who questioned the existence of Lord Ram and did not attend the consecration ceremony, ultimately you have to come to the feet of Lord Ram." "Those who brought Lord Ram, people will bring them back to power," he said.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.
