'Muslim League blueprint': War of words over Cong manifesto for LS polls

At his public meetings in Chhattisgarh on Monday, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi again criticised the Congress manifesto for bearing the “Muslim League imprint”. The Congress shot back, pointing to the “massive” response from the people for its poll promises, and stated that the PM was rattled at the prospect of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) struggling to cross the 180-seat mark in the Lok Sabha polls, resorting once again to the “same cliched Hindu-Muslim script”.

The Congress claimed that its manifesto-related posts across all its social media platforms, including reposts, had received over 250 million views. The Congress launched its manifesto, titled Nyay Patra, on Friday. It also stated that it had received more than 100,000 suggestions and feedback on its manifesto, including 3,000 detailed emails sent to former party chief Rahul Gandhi.

According to Congress sources, the manifesto has garnered 24 million views on Rahul’s Instagram handle.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that with the BJP’s electoral situation worsening by the day, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has started remembering its old friend — the Muslim League. He said the RSS opposed the 1942 Quit India Movement.

“Everyone knows that your ancestors formed their government in Bengal, Sindh, and North-West Frontier Province in the 1940s along with the Muslim League. Didn’t Syama Prasad Mookerjee write to the then-British governor about how the Quit India Movement of 1942 by the country and Congress should be suppressed? And for this, he was ready to support the British?” the Congress president said.

The Congress’ Nyay Patra purportedly has a solution to every problem that the Modi government has imposed on this country over the past decade, said Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate.

Addressing public meetings in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur and Jagdalpur and Maharashtra’s Chandrapur, the PM said the Congress overlooked the needs of the poor for decades. He also mentioned the imprint of the Muslim League in the Congress manifesto and spoke of the Congress’ “misdeeds”, including the “scams that took place before 2014”. He noted how his government has lifted 250 million people out of poverty.

“My call is ‘bhrashtachar hatao’ (remove corruption) and they say ‘bhrashtachari bachao’ (save the corrupt),” the PM said. He said it was Modi’s guarantee that the corrupt would go to jail.

“Ram Navami festival is not far away. This time people will have a glimpse of our Ram Lalla in Ayodhya in a grand temple, not in a tent,” he said.