 "PM resorted to 'hate speech' after disappointment in first phase: Congress")
The Congress on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of speaking in a “poisonous language” and said that he uses various strategies to deflect attention from real issues. The opposition party said that PM Modi’s end of “business of lies” is near, according to a report in The Economic Times (ET).
On Sunday, the Congress retaliated against Prime Minister Modi’s comments on “redistribution of wealth”, aimed at the party, asserting that after facing “disappointment” in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, the PM has turned to “lies” and “hate speech” to divert people from the real issues, the ET reported.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also attacked the prime minister over the Centre not conducting a census in 2021.
Ramesh said, “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 ten years. This reveals the actual data of the Scheduled Caste and the 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?”
He alleged said that this is “a conspiracy” to destroy the Constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar.
The ET reported that the Congress intensified its attack on the prime minister following his remarks that if the Congress government comes to power, it would redistribute wealth of people to Muslims, citing former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s statement regarding the minority community’s priority in accessing the nation’s resources.
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While addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on Sunday, the prime minister had said, “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 with this)?”
PM Modi further alleged that the Congress manifesto pledges to assess the gold owned by mothers and daughters and redistribute that wealth.
Referring to Manmohan Singh government’s stance on “Muslims having primary access to wealth”, the prime minister warned that this “Urban Naxal” ideology would even target the sacred “mangal sutras” worn by mothers and sisters, according to a report in The Times of India (TOI).
In 2006, at a meeting of the National Development Council, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that the focus must be to create inventive strategies to ensure that minority groups, particularly the Muslim community, are empowered to fairly partake in the benefits of development. “They must have the first claim on resources,” the former prime minister had said, the TOI reported.