Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “quoting words out of context to create communal divide” and sought time from him to explain the party’s “Nyay Patra” in person.
In a two-page letter to PM Modi, Kharge said, “It has become your habit to seize on a few words and take it out of context to create communal divide. You are lowering the dignity of the chair by speaking in this manner.”
“You are being misinformed by your advisors about things that are not even written in our manifesto. I would be more than happy to meet you in person to explain our ‘Nyay Patra’ so that, as Prime Minister of the country, you don’t make any statements that are false,” Kharge said.
In his election speeches, Prime Minister Modi has been relentless in his attacks over Congress manifesto, accusing the grand old party of pitching for “wealth survey” to carry out “redistribution of assets” if voted to power.
“Your Mangalsutra is not safe under Congress rule,” the Prime Minister has said in his rallies and claimed that if Congress is voted to power it will order a wealth survey to take away the assets of people and redistribute it to minorities especially Muslims.
The Prime Minister linked Congress manifesto to Manmohan Singh’s 2006 speech on minorities having the first right on nation’s resources.
The Congress chief claimed that he is neither shocked nor surprised by the language used by Prime Minister in his recent speeches.
“It was expected that you and other leaders from your party would start speaking in this manner after you saw the dismal performance of the BJP in the first phase of the elections,” Kharge said in the letter.
“Your ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ works for the corporates whose taxes you reduced while the salaried class pays higher taxes. The poor pay GST even on food and salt and the rich corporate claim GST refunds. That is why, when we talk of inequality between the rich and the poor, you are purposely equating it with Hindu and Muslim,” Kharge claimed.
“Our manifesto is for the people of India — whether they are Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain or Buddhist. I think you have still not forgotten your pre-Independence allies the Muslim League and colonial masters,” he said.
The Congress has accused PM Modi of spreading “lies” to divert attention from real issues in the Lok Sabha polls and challenged him to point out where in the party’s manifesto is “redistribution of wealth” mentioned.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that PM Modi “symbolises Asatyamev Jayate’.
