Cong moves EC against PM Modi, BJP over 'Muslim League' jab at manifesto

'We are deeply saddened by what the Prime Minister says in his speeches,' said the Congress

Lok Sabha elections 2024: The Congress on Monday filed a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), citing a series of grievances. Among these complaints, the party has objected to the Prime Minister's description of its manifesto as an 'imprint' of the Muslim League.

“The Congress manifesto completely bears the imprint of the Muslim League, and whatever part of it is left is completely dominated by the leftists,” PM Modi had said at rallies in Saharanpur and Ajmer last week.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh took to social platform X and said, "My colleagues @salman7khurshid, @MukulWasnik, @Pawankhera, and @gurdeepsappal have just met with the Election Commission and presented and argued 6 complaints, including 2 against the PM himself."

“This is the time for the Election Commission [EC] to demonstrate its independence by ensuring a level playing field for all parties. We live in hope that the Hon’ble Commission will uphold its Constitutional mandate. For our part, we will continue to pursue all avenues, political and legal, to expose this regime,” he added.

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said, "We are deeply saddened by what the Prime Minister says in his speeches, what he has said about our manifesto is a bundle of lies, we are deeply saddened by this. You can do a degree anywhere with any other party, you can argue it, you can dissect it, but to say that a national-level party which has been involved in our national movement would write such a bundle of lies in its manifesto, whereas a very good manifesto has been written."

“He also said that this seems to be the manifesto of the parties that were opposing the independence of our secular society...We are extremely saddened by this matter, and we understand that the Prime Minister has no right to say such a thing. We have put this matter before the Election Commission and have made a special request to them to take it seriously and take action on it,” Khurshid was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.

Further slamming PM Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the BJP's “ideological ancestors” supported the British and the Muslim League against Indians in the freedom struggle, referring to the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (predecessor to BJP) Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

"Modi-Shah's ideological ancestors opposed Mahatma Gandhi's call for "Quit India" in 1942, which was the movement chaired by Maulana Azad. Everyone knows how Syama Prasad Mookerjee formed his governments in Bengal, Sindh, and NWFP in the 1940s in coalition with the Muslim League," Kharge wrote on X.

He then questioned, "Did Syama Prasad Mookerjee not write to the then British Governor about how the Quit India movement of 1942 can be "combated" and how the Congress should be suppressed? And for this, he said that “Indians have to trust the British?”

“Modi-Shah and their nominated President are today spreading falsehood about the Congress Manifesto…There is a stink of RSS in Modi ji's speeches, BJP's electoral graph is plunging day by day, therefore the RSS has started remembering its best friend-the Muslim League,” the Congress leader added.

Kharge further claimed that his party's manifesto “reflects the hopes and aspirations of 140 crore people of India.” “Their combined strength will put an end to Modi ji's 10 years of injustice!,” he added.