The top leadership of the Narendra Modi government “continues to be self-delusional” and has not learnt any lessons from the Lok Sabha election verdict, said Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday.

Addressing the CPP, Sonia said: “We would have hoped that the Modi government would draw the right lessons from their significant decline in the Lok Sabha elections. Instead, they are persisting with their policy of dividing communities and spreading an atmosphere of fear and animosity.”

Making an oblique reference to the Uttar Pradesh government’s directive to vendors along the Kanwar Yatra route to display their names on their outlets, the Rajya Sabha MP said: “Fortunately, the Supreme Court intervened at the right time. But this can only be a temporary respite. Look at how the rules have been suddenly changed to permit the bureaucracy to participate in the activities of the RSS. It calls itself a cultural organisation but the whole world knows that it is the BJP’s political and ideological base.”

On the budget, she said that the pressing demands of farmers and youths had been totally ignored. “Allocations in several vital sectors have not done justice to the tasks required to be fulfilled,” she said.

Stating that there is widespread disappointment despite efforts by senior government functionaries, including the Prime Minister, to “talk up the budget”, Sonia said:
“The Union government, especially its top leadership, continues to be self-delusional as crores of families across the country are devastated by mounting unemployment and price rise.”

According to Sonia, it is clear that the government has no intention of conducting the census that was due in 2021.

“This will prevent us from having an up-to-date estimate of the population of the country, especially of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It also means that at least 12 crore of our citizens are denied the benefits of the National Food Security Act of 2013, now repackaged as PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana,” she said.

Touching on the “damage” done to education under the Modi government’s watch and the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur, she took a swipe at the Prime Minister for not visiting the northeastern state even once since the trouble started in May 2023.

“The Prime Minister travels the world over but steadfastly refuses to go to the state and take the initiative to bring about normalcy.”

“We must not become complacent and overconfident. The mahaul (atmosphere) favours us but we have to work unitedly with a sense of purpose. I dare say that if we perform well, reflecting the trend we witnessed in the Lok Sabha elections, national politics will undergo a transformation,” she said.