The Congress on Wednesday said that most of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogans had proved hollow, which had forced him to adopt silence on his lofty promises and the problems the country was grappling with now.
Playing on a famous couplet from the Ramayana, “Raghukul riti sada chali aayi, pran jaye par vachan na jayi (In Ram’s family tradition, promises were kept even at the cost of life)”, Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak said: “Modi riti sada chali aayi, jo kah jayen wo kabhi na nibhayi (In Modi’s tradition, promises are never kept).”
Nayak was talking about the promises Modi had made in the 2014 general election campaign. She mentioned Modi’s then slogan “Bahut hui mehngai ki maar, Abki baar Modi sarkar (Enough with the scourge of inflation, it’s time to let Modi form the government)”.
“We have reached a situation in the last eight years of Modi rule when people get surprised and relieved on days when the attack of price rise doesn’t happen,” Nayak said.
“Even today, the strike occurred in the morning, when the cooking gas cylinder became costlier by Rs 50. People are now accustomed to the price attacks.”
Rahul Gandhi too highlighted the gap between Modi’s words and deeds. He posted a tweet citing Modi’s past remark that a country’s currency fell if its government was corrupt, and contrasted it with the rupee’s record plunge on his watch. The rupee had slumped to 79.37 to a dollar on Tuesday.
Rahul recalled how the prices of essentials made headlines till 2014 but nobody discussed them now, pointing to the surging cooking gas prices.
He said the promise was that “two crore jobs will be created every year” but “India lost 1.3 crore jobs in June”.
Party communications chief Jairam Ramesh said the rising prices were Modi’s bulldozer flattening the household budgets of the poor and the middle class.
The Congress recalled how an LPG cylinder sold for Rs 450 when Modi used his inflation slogan to attack the UPA, and now costs Rs 1,053.
“The Manmohan Singh government bought crude oil and gas at costlier rates and sold them to the people cheaper. Modi purchased crude and gas cheaper and sold them to the people costlier. Modi’s lofty promises (have led to) an anti-people regime,” Nayak said.
“While unemployment is at its peak, China is sitting inside our territory. Around eight crore people have been pushed below the poverty line.
“An RTI query has revealed that 3.59 crore people didn’t get any (cooking gas) cylinder filled (over a period of) one year. Over 42 per cent of the Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries aren’t using a gas cylinder.
“Even (business chamber) Ficci was forced to write to the finance minister against the levying of GST on hospital beds. They have thankfully spared burial and cremation so far. We are compelled to say that you need a compassionate heart, not a 56-inch chest, to feel the miseries of the people.”
Fake news
Congress media department head Pawan Khera wrote to the chairperson of the News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority on Wednesday, complaining against Zee News for distorting a statement by Rahul.
A report on the channel had suggested that Rahul had described the killers of the Udaipur tailor as “children” and sought forgiveness for them. The Congress MP was actually referring to the SFI members who had attacked his office in Wayanad, Kerala.
Khera said Rahul’s statement was deliberately linked to a completely unrelated event to mislead and incite the public. He demanded action against the channel for violation of the Cable Television Network Rules. The Congress has filed several FIRs and police complaints as well.
