The Congress leadership is trying hard to keep focus on the elementary concerns of livelihood, empowerment and justice by relentlessly scrutinising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diversionary tactics.

While the party organised two rallies in Jaipur and Hyderabad on Saturday to launch its manifesto which deals with empowerment and justice, top leaders are desperately trying to convince the people to restrict the electoral discourse to their core concerns instead of getting waylaid by irrelevant emotive and tangential controversies. They cautioned voters against Modi’s "expertise" in diverting attention from real issues.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rajasthan unit chief Govind Dotasara explained to the people at the Jaipur rally how the Prime Minister often misled voters by hyping up unimportant issues. They pointed to how Modi told a rally in Churu how he had removed Article 370 when the people there were agitated about agrarian distress and the Agniveer scheme.

Churu is in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan where farmers constitute the bulk of the population and prefer to send their children to the armed forces. Kharge said: “Farmers are in distress. Modi should have told them whether he had doubled their income as promised. He should have said whether he had brought down the prices of diesel and fertilisers. But he says Article 370 is removed.” Dotasara said every family there was agitated about the Agniveer scheme that retires soldiers in four years.

Addressing the same rally, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said: “You see Modi everywhere, you hear charsau paar (400-plus seats). But you don’t exist in the media or political talk. Your miseries are not reflected in the national discourse. The media won’t talk about the struggles of farmers, women and youth. Modi is an expert in event-bazi; he celebrates irrelevant issues. What actually happens in your life, your lived experience is more important than the lies on the posters and hoardings.”

Arguing that the Congress manifesto — called Nyay Patra — was all about people’s problems and solutions, Priyanka said: “Force your issues to dominate the political discourse. Don’t get misled by politicians. Tell them you will cast your vote on the basis of your real concerns. Unemployment is at its peak. Every section is crying for justice. Modi did nothing in 10 years to create jobs. Instead, he brought a scheme like Agniveer to dash the hope of youths. Farmers commit suicide for Rs 10,000 while loans of industrialists worth thousands of crores are written off.”

Kharge also targeted the Prime Minister, saying: “Modi lies wherever he goes. I don’t know why he lies so much. He is talking about Modi’s guarantee. Which guarantee has been fulfilled in 10 years? He promised to bring back black money and distribute Rs 15 lakh among everybody. Did he create two crore jobs?” As the audience roared "No", Kharge said: “That means Modi is a liar. That’s why I call him Jhoothon Ka Sardar. Modi’s guarantee is lies guaranteed. He can only abuse the Congress. We created countless public sector units, great institutions, executed great projects. What has Modi created? Any big project?”

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh issued a video statement saying: “The Prime Minister never thinks of people’s concerns. His sole aim is to divert attention from real issues. He wants to divert attention from farmers’ woes, from unemployment, from women’s safety, from workers’ welfare. He wants to run away from his failures of 10 years.”

Responding to Modi’s comparison of the Congress manifesto with the Muslim League’s thinking, Ramesh said: “The Prime Minister should recall history. Between 1940 and 1942, who aligned with the Muslim League to form the government in Bengal? Syama Prasad Mookerjee of the Hindu Mahasabha later founded Jan Sangh, the BJP’s previous avatar. In Sindh and North West Frontier, the Hindu Mahasabha was in coalition with the Muslim League. Modi always pursues divisive politics; he invents controversies to create communal polarisation. He talks nonsense; he lies.”

Addressing the Jaipur rally, Sonia Gandhi said: “This country is not owned by a few people; this belongs to each one of us. Our forefathers nursed it with their blood. Nobody should presume he is bigger than the country. People will punish the leader who thinks so. Unfortunately we have a leader in Modi today who thinks he is great and is disrobing democracy. All kinds of tricks are being adopted to threaten Opposition leaders and getting them inducted into the BJP. Political power is being used as a weapon to destroy democratic institutions. But we will give a fitting reply to this tanashahi.”