The Congress on Thursday questioned Narendra Modi’s suitability as the Prime Minister, portraying him as a leader who is more interested in attending the inauguration of a diamond house in Gujarat than visiting the strife-torn Manipur.

Launching the party’s campaign for the parliamentary election with a massive public meeting in Nagpur, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “Modi will not visit Manipur where people are dying. He will rather inaugurate a diamond house. He will tour states when Parliament is in session. He will get 146 Opposition MPs suspended if we ask how intruders came into Parliament on the pass facilitated by a BJP member.”

Arguing that the RSS-BJP tormented India in the past 10 years, Kharge said Modi had the tendency to dismiss promises made in the election as “jumla”. He would never discuss unemployment and high prices and try to frighten the opponents by misusing central agencies. “Constitutional rule will be over if Modi is not ousted from power. India will hurtle towards destruction,” he warned, explaining to the people how Modi lied to them while working for the big corporate.

While Modi’s stubborn refusal to visit Manipur which burned for months — with the violent clashes killing hundreds of people, destroying thousands of houses and displacing lakhs of people — became a disconcerting national controversy, he did inaugurate the Diamond Bourse in Surat, which will serve as a one-stop centre for artisans, traders, industrialists, and buyers.

Surat encapsulates the experience of history, the diversity of the present, and the foresight of the future. Although the Congress president on Thursday mentioned only the Diamond Bourse and Modi’s habit of wasting time on distribution of appointment letters which low-grade bureaucrats usually do, the party has been extremely critical of Modi’s penchant for inaugural ceremonies — he doesn’t spare even Metro trains and stations for lesser mortals.

Kharge, who announced that the Congress would implement the Nyay scheme if it came to power in 2024, said Modi had little interest in people’s real concerns. Nyay (Nyuntam Aay Yojna) was promised in 2019 by Rahul Gandhi in which every poor household was supposed to get Rs 72,000 every year. The scheme could not dominate the political discourse in the surcharged atmosphere of post-Pulwama frenzy as Modi succeeded in diverting attention from the bread-and-butter questions.

The Congress has resumed the 2024 campaign with the same democracy-in-peril narrative, though with an added social justice thrust.

Addressing the same meeting, Rahul said every institution that was created to protect people’s freedoms was now under the RSS control and the very motto of empowering the citizens had been abandoned. “Modi acts like an emperor; the government is run by an emperor’s edict. Institutions which drew power from the Constitution are all under control of people belonging to one outfit.”

Insisting that the battle was more ideological than political, Rahul said: “One BJP MP who was earlier in Congress told me he was unhappy because there was a culture of slavery in the BJP. The order comes from the top and everybody has to quietly follow.”

Explaining how the Congress empowered the citizens with a progressive and liberal Constitution, Rahul said the RSS-BJP intended to draw India back. He lamented that even the media no more worked for the protection of democracy.

Stressing on the need for unity and harmony, he said: “India’s youth are under attack. India’s farmers are under attack. The government was working to hand over the entire wealth to two-three billionaires. This is not going to help the nation.”

He recalled how over 1.5 lakh young boys were denied recruitment in the Armed Forces after selection because the government introduced the Agniveer scheme. He repeated his arguments on social justice and caste census.

The public meeting, titled Hain Taiyyar Hum (We are ready), saw most speakers highlight the threats to democracy and refer to the advent of “tanashahi”. If former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan said 10 years were wasted as Modi diverted attention to “fake issues” instead of solving real problems, Himachal chief minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu pointed to “new definitions of patriotism and nationalism” to undermine the contributions and sacrifices of the Congress stalwarts.

The young Kanhaiya Kumar said: “The tagline ‘Hain Taiyyar Hum’ tells us that the Congress is ready to defend the Constitution, to protect people’s freedom, to solve real problems like unemployment and high prices.”

He also said the Prime Minister was trying to malign the Congress for corruption only because “we have caught him selling national assets”. Karnataka deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar said the doors to South had been closed for the BJP and the same would have elsewhere.

While the size of the crowd in Nagpur must have emboldened the Congress leadership, they will have to sharpen their tools as the same old narrative of threat to democracy may not yield the desired political results. Both Kharge and Rahul failed to offer a comprehensive critique of Modi’s 10-year-rule even as they touched upon several issues and flagged the perils of another term for Modi.