Lucknow: Akhilesh Pratap Singh, national spokesperson for the Congress and a contestant from the Deoria Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, tells The Telegraph about the vicious election campaign that started after the first phase of polling, lesser turnout of voters compared with 2019 and his party’s agenda.

Excerpts from the interview.

Q. The BJP had started its campaign with the 10 years of Narendra Modi government and “Modi ki guarantee” slogan but quickly turned to the Congress’s manifesto and started attacking Rahul Gandhi directly. What do you have to say?

A. Inflation has hurt the people of the country a lot in the last 10 years. Unemployment is growing. The BJP government held 19 job-related examinations. The BJP members call Modi “vishwa guru”. They claim that Modi intervened to stop nuclear wars between countries. But this government couldn’t prevent the paper leak of all 19 examinations. The people have understood his lies.

“Modiji ki zaban aur Cheen ka saman, Yahi Moidji ki guarantee hai (The words of Modi are like Chinese products. There is no guarantee of a Chinese product). He started speaking bigger lies after realising that he is losing this election. The kind of disrespectful language he is using in his campaign is unacceptable to the people. Even BJP leaders are accepting in private conversations that Modi magic doesn’t exist now.

Q. There is a general perception that while the BJP leaders are targeting the Congress 24x7 in their campaigns, the Congress is unable to reply to them. Do you agree?

A. We maintain a certain level of decorum in our campaign and can’t stoop that low. We talk about skyrocketing prices of essential commodities; we talk about the future of our youths. We are concerned about the protection of our borders and the security of Parliament. China has entered several kilometres inside India’s territory but Modi doesn’t mind.

We have promised to provide jobs to the youths. We are going to provide health insurance of ₹25 lakh to the people. The words of the Congress are reaching the people very well. Modi knows this and so he is creating lies about our manifesto. However, the voters have rejected his gimmicks. Modi’s popularity graph has touched the ground.

BJP leaders are saying that Modi is a burden on them. Arun Govil, BJP candidate from Meerut, made it clear in a tweet. (“Jab kisi ka dohra charitra saamne aata hai, toh uss se adhik swayam pe krodh aata hai ki hamne kaise aankh band karke aise aadmi pe bharosa kiya. Jai Sri Ram (When someone’s duplicity comes to light, it invokes more anger towards self, realising how did we trust such a person with eyes closed. Jai Shri Ram),” Govil purportedly wrote on X a few days ago and later deleted it).

Q. The INDIA coalition couldn’t organise even one rally before the first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 seats. It held one rally in Amroha before the second phase and now people are waiting for another joint rally by INDIA before the third phase of polling. Why is there such discord?

A. Our joint campaigns are going on regularly wherever there is a need. Our party candidates are very much in touch with our allies and doing campaigns in close coordination with each other. BJP leaders have lost their nerve seeing the acceptance of INDIA among the voters. We have leaders and we have policies for the people.

Q. It is said that the Congress didn’t find even 17 winnable candidates in Uttar Pradesh as an INDIA ally.

A. It is wrong. We had many candidates for every seat but fielded those who have the maximum probability of winning. In fact, the BJP candidates ran away from the election because they knew they would lose. They knew they had nothing to tell to the voters.

We can defeat Modi also in Varanasi. You see our campaign there and the response of the people yourself and then decide. The way people have started rejecting Modi in his parliamentary constituency is an eye-opener for the country.

Lies have a very short life but Modi somehow clung to power for 10 years with untruthful promises. The people are saying that it is enough now and he should go. He doubted the intelligence of the people and so the people are contesting against him this time.

Q. The Congress boycotted the Ram temple consecration ceremony on January 22 and now there is a rumour that your leaders would worship at the shrine in Ayodhya.

A. We didn’t oppose the Ram temple, we were against Modi’s polarisation plank. We follow religion with devotion. Religion for us is not a political agenda. Religion for the people is also not an agenda; it is a matter of belief for them. The BJP has not done anything which proves that they follow Lord Ram. They behave as anti-Ram and anti-Hindu. They have been insulting our religion by misusing it.

Q. How is this election different from the elections of 2014 and 2019?

A. It is an extraordinary election to save democracy, the Constitution and the country. It is an election to protect our tradition of tolerance towards all. It is an election against those who are trying to break the country. The last years of Modi’s rule would be remembered as a period of pauperism (kangaali).

The BJP has not come up with any law for the poor, farmers, unemployed and the women in 10 years. The Congress during its tenure had enacted about two dozen acts for the people, including the Right to Information Act, Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Right to Education Act and the National Food Security Act.