Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday coined the new epithet of “Lollipop Company” for the Congress, accusing the party of habitually making false promises for electoral gain and citing its pledges of farm loan waivers as an example.

His objective seemed twofold: to discredit the Congress’s promises of loan waivers that appear to be winning it elections, and to counter its allegations that Modi won the last general election with empty pledges.

“Be alert against the lies and dishonesty of this party (the Congress),” Modi told a rally in Ghazipur, near his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi, on Saturday.

“They made attractive promises in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan before the Assembly elections. But the black-marketeers in fertilisers and urea there got cracking as soon as the Congress formed the government.”

The Prime Minister then brought out the L-word. “Your vote-thieves handed you the lollipop of a promised farm loan waiver but gave this benefit to only, only, only, only 800 farmers,” he said, repeating the word “only” several times.

“I want you to understand this politics of promises made for instant electoral gain. Before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the Lollipop Company had promised to waive farm loans worth Rs 6 lakh crore but after coming to power paid only, only, only Rs 60,000 crore against their loans,” he claimed.

“What is more alarming is that the CAG has said in its report that the 35,000 beneficiaries whose (alleged) loans were (purportedly) waived at the time had not taken any loans. Isn’t this theft?”

The Congress’s promises of farm loan waivers are believed to have played a key role in the party wresting the heartland states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan from the BJP this month.

Modi requested the gathering to promise they would question the “lollipop-wallahs” about their false promises when these campaigners came to seek their votes in 2019.

Modi tried to hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s refrain of “Chowkidar chor hai (The watchman is a thief)” at his rallies — an allusion to Modi’s claim during the 2014 campaign that he would be a watchman guarding the public’s money.

“I promise you that I’m working with complete honesty for you,” Modi said. He indicated that he would put “several thieves” in prison.

“Chowkidar ki wajah se kuch choron ke rat ki nind ur gai hai; apka vishwas un choron ko sahi jagah le jayega (Several thieves have lost their sleep because of the watchman; your trust in me will help send these thieves where they belong),” he said.

Modi was at Ghazipur to release a postage stamp in memory of Suheldev, an 11th-century king of Bahraich, and to lay the foundation stone for a medical college.

Ghazipur is in eastern Uttar Pradesh where the BJP is in trouble because two of its allies, Apna Dal (S) and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, have criticised the working of the central and state governments and decided not to share daises with ruling party leaders.

The two allies skipped the Prime Minister’s programme in Ghazipur and later in Varanasi, where he laid the foundation stones for several development projects.

Clearly canvassing for the general election, Modi said his government had started a campaign “to give a respectable life to the poor”. “The government has successfully laid the foundation for this process. Now the time has come to build a strong structure on this foundation,” he said.