A day after the Congress released its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the manifesto, calling it ‘fake and corrupt,’ while speaking at a rally in Arunachal Pradesh.
Scoffing at the Congress party, PM Modi said that their manifesto is as corrupt as the party itself. Addressing a rally in Pasighat, the prime minister, on 3 April, said:
“Inn logon (Congress party) ki tarah hi inka ghoshna patra bhi bhrasht hota hai, beimaan hota hai, dhakosalo se bhara hota hai aur iss liye ussey ghoshna patra nahi dhakosala patra kehna chaiye. (Just like the Congress party, their manifesto is corrupt, it’s hypocritical, and it is fake, and it should be called a hypocrisy document.)”Prime Minister Narendra Modi
He further said that the Lok Sabha elections was “about a choice between trust and corruption, and about resolution and conspiracy.”
Addressing his second rally in Arunachal Pradesh within a week’s time, the prime minister cited the Congress manifesto for the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, and said it had promised that every house would have electricity by 2009.
"However, till 2014 around 18,000 houses were not electrified,” Modi said.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, 2 April released his party's manifesto for Lok Sabha polls, promising jobs, a separate kisan budget, a single moderate rate of GST and offering Rs 72,000 per annum to poor families, among other social justice measures.
The prime minister also charged that the Congress was fooling farmers in the name of votes, whereas the BJP government has always been with them.
“We never committed the sin of betraying farmers but we introduced the mechanism from seed to market.”Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Promise to Amend AFSPA an Effort to Weaken Armed Forces: Sitharaman
Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Wednesday, 3 April, criticised the Congress manifesto as well.
The defence minister, while addressing a press conference, said that Congress’ pitch to amend the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is an effort to weaken the armed forces. She said that the Congress party is trying to dilute the immunity of the security forces.
“It is an effort to weaken the armed forces. They are trying to dilute the immunity of our security forces.”Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Defence Minister
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