Mallikarjun Kharge seeks appointment with PM Modi to 'convince' him about Congress manifesto

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “convince” him about the grand old party’s manifesto for Lok Sabha polls 2024.

Informing about it on Monday, AICC (All India Congress Committee) general secretary leader KC Venugopal said Kharge wanted to give PM Modi a copy of the Congress’ manifesto and request him not to “mislead voters” about the same.

Venugopal also accused PM Modi of “attempting to create communal polarisation for electoral gains.”

He alleged that Modi distorted the speech for former prime minister Manmohan Singh and made statements that were not befitting the post of the Prime Minister.

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Venugopal’s remarks come a day after PM Modi, at a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on Sunday, said if Congress is voted to power, the country’s properties and wealth will be distributed among “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”.

“Earlier, when they (the Congress) were in power, they had said Muslims have the first right to the wealth of the nation. This means they will distribute this wealth to those who have more children, to infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money be given to infiltrators? Do you agree to this?” PM Modi asked people who had congregated at the rally.

Hitting back at Congress for manhandling India’s assets, Modi said, “This urban-naxal mindset, my mothers and sisters, they will not even leave your ‘Mangalsutra’. They can go to that level. The Congress manifesto says they will calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, get information about it and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom - Manmohan Singh’s government had said that Muslims have the first right on the country’s assets.”

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PM Modi invoked a 2006 speech where Manmohan Singh said the “first claim” to India’s vast resources will be given to Muslims.

The BJP also shared an archive of the video, dated December 9, 2006, where Manmohan Singh can be heard saying: “We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources.”

Congress calls it ‘hate speech’

Kharge has termed PM Modi’s remarks as “hate speech”, saying it was “a well thought-out ploy” to divert people’s attention, prompted by the “panic” and “disappointment” over the first phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2020.

The Congress president further claimed that the party’s manifesto “has no mention of the words Muslim and Hindu”.

“Uttering lies to gain power and making baseless references to things to foist false accusations on opponents are the speciality of the training of the Sangh and BJP. The 140 crore people of this country are not going to fall for these lies… Our manifesto is for every Indian…," Kharge said.

Congress even released “fact-check” video on X, where two videos were seen playing side-by-side, one of the prime minister and the other of Manmohan Singh’s speech.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also attacked PM Modi saying: “The Prime Minister speaks in a poisonous language on a whole lot of issues. He should also answer a simple question - Since 1951, census has been conducted every 10 years. This reveals the actual data of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe population. This should have been done in 2021 but has not been done till date. Why is the Prime Minister silent on this?”

With inputs from agencies