The Congress on Monday said the BJP had presented “an apology of a manifesto” that ignores key popular concerns, avoids explaining the government’s failure to keep its 2014 pledges and tries to mislead the people with a new set of false promises.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and other senior leaders didn’t even mention (these) few words —– jobs, notebandi (the demonetisation), GST, black money,” Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala said.
“Modi should have issued a maafi patra (letter of apology) but released a jhansa patra (document of bluff).”
The Congress also released a list of “betrayals”, citing 125 points on which it accused the Narendra Modi government of having failed to deliver.
“Betrayal is Modi’s nature. His politics rests on gimmicks and tricks,” senior politician Ahmed Patel said while releasing the document.
“He doesn’t need a manifesto — he can fool the people with his deceptive appearances as chaiwala (tea seller), fakir (ascetic), chowkidar (watchman). But he can’t fool the people every time. The next election will be a lie-versus-nyay (justice) battle.”
Surjewala too mentioned a few of the 2014 promises. “He (Modi) said two crore jobs would be created every year, which means 10 crore jobs in five years. Instead, he destroyed 4.7 crore jobs and is now unwilling to utter a word on this,” he said.
“He promised to give input (costs) plus a 50 per cent profit to farmers, which was not given. The allurement of bringing back black money worth Rs 80 lakh crore disappeared as 27 fugitives like Mehulbhai (Choksi) and Nirav Modi ran away with the people’s hard-earned money, worth Rs one lakh crore.”
Surjewala added: “Modi talked about making India an economic power. The debt burden in 2014 was Rs 54.9 lakh crore, which has jumped to Rs 82 lakh crore. They promised to bring down the price of petrol and then levied taxes to mop up Rs 12 lakh crore.
“Modi mocked (former Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh over the value of the rupee and declared that it would be brought down to Rs 40 a dollar. It is around Rs 70 a dollar now. Where are the (promised) ‘smart cities’? The Ganga hasn’t been cleaned. Rapists are given patronage in the name of (the) Beti Bachao (scheme). Atrocities against SCs and STs increased….”
Rajeev Gowda, head of the Congress’s research department, accused the BJP manifesto of “making hollow promises, not getting into specifics”.
“There is a lack of seriousness. They have promised an increase in exports (but) it is at the lowest share of the GDP in 14 years,” he said.
“They have said nothing on khet-mazdoor (peasants), showing they understand little about rural India. One good omission is that they have not promised a department for doctoring data.”
Patel and Surjewala accused Modi of self-obsession, citing how his photograph alone adorned the BJP manifesto’s front page while the Congress manifesto had “the people” on its cover.
“Modi has no concern for the people; not for the BJP, either,” Patel said. “His politics is about himself and his ego.”
Asked about Modi’s vision for the India of 2047, Surjewala said: “We thank him for not talking about 300 years (ahead). If lies, deceit and betrayal dominate their politics, they can say anything.”
The Congress’s list of 125 broken promises includes every minor and major issue Modi had raised in 2014, from agriculture and infrastructure to federalism and the decentralisation of power.
Some of the 2014 promises that the 2019 manifesto includes are: Reducing non-performing assets, banking reforms, insulating the intelligence agencies from political intervention, strengthening the National Investigation Agency, building institutions for the present and the future, reducing election expenses and raising the standards of research in education.
Gowda quipped: “You can read the BJP manifesto at leisure and find more points to laugh at.”
