The Congress on Sunday said Narendra Modi’s seven-year-old rule had “inflicted countless wounds” on the nation and “given immeasurable pain” to its people, targeting the government’s already low-key celebrations of its anniversary amid the alarm and despondency caused by a rampaging pandemic.

Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala painted a grim picture, arguing a callous and incompetent government had ruined the economy, damaged institutions, poisoned the social fabric and mishandled the pandemic.

“Modi has inflicted countless wounds, given immeasurable pain. The time has come to ask questions, to seek accountability,” he said.

“The economy has been wrecked. The GDP is growing at minus 8 per cent. Unemployment is peaking. Over 12 crore people have lost their jobs in the last one year,” he added.

“Lakhs of farmers are sitting in protest outside Delhi because of unwanted black laws. The Chinese intrusion is unresolved. The pain and miseries during the lockdown suffered by millions are known to all. People died of oxygen shortage in the second wave. Funeral pyres burnt ceaselessly and thousands of bodies were thrown into rivers and buried in the sand.”

Showing a short film to provide visual depiction of the devastation, Surjewala said: “As if these were not enough, what India lost is the majesty of our democracy, autonomy of institutions, global respect, self-reliance and prime ministerial sensitivity.”

He continued: “We lost the tradition and culture of sharing pain, of providing the healing touch, the norm of keeping words. We couldn’t provide dignity to the dead, couldn’t perform the last rites. What we got are lies, hate, deception, divisive politics, harmful GST…. Desh bhugat raha hai (The country is suffering).”

Surjewala stressed that some of the government’s most spectacular failures owed not to Covid alone.

“Our per capita income is now less than Bangladesh’s. The unemployment rate is at an all-time high at 11.3 per cent. Only in April 2021, 74 lakh jobs were lost,” he said.

“Over 23 crore people have been pushed below the poverty line in the last seven years. Three crore people fell off the middle class category. Edible oil is selling at Rs 200 per litre and petrol at Rs 100 per litre; LPG for Rs 800-plus.”

While the sheer force of circumstances has put the BJP on the mat, the anniversary also represents the moment of truth for both the ruling establishment and the Opposition.

While Modi’s second term has been tumultuous, marked by a slowing economy, massive anti-CAA-NRC protests, the clampdown on Kashmir and Covid, questions rained on the Congress on Sunday for the disarray in the Opposition camp.

The Congress has almost been rudderless since the 2019 election debacle, with a retired Sonia Gandhi reluctantly stepping in as a ceremonial head, and the Opposition has been unable to collectively mount a challenge to a faltering government.

The BJP has lost its two oldest and most valuable allies over the past two years — the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal — and its governments in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The two mass movements against the new citizenship regime and farm laws have demolished Modi’s aura of invincibility. Yet the Opposition has remained somnolent, lending credence to the theory of a lack of alternative.

Surjewala artfully sidestepped queries on Opposition ineffectuality and the Congress’s role in the disappointing situation by attacking the Modi government. However, the friendly parties are unmistakably growing uneasy.

Congress leaders too believe that the speculation about Opposition leadership that has started after Mamata Banerjee’s astonishing victory in Bengal owes primarily to the confusion in their party.

Somewhat unusually, Surjewala chose to highlight the Congress’s willingness to play junior partner in states such as Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu — rather than stress the inevitability of its leadership role — to reiterate the party’s commitment to coalitions.

Among the next big state elections is the one early next year in Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress will have to decide whether to strike an alliance with the Samajwadi Party or go it alone. The contours of Opposition unity will become clear only after that critical contest.