 "Mallikarjun Kharge")
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his visibility on TV, saying that he is trying to become the 11th "avatar" of Lord Vishnu.
He was addressing a meeting of party workers here.
Asking people to oust the BJP from power, Kharge said they should not let the saffron party win the general elections in the name of religion.
He also attacked the prime minister for his visibility on TV, and said every time one switches it on, "Modi is seen holding forth".
"He is trying to become the 11th avatar of Lord Vishnu," Kharge alleged.
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The Congress leader said religion and politics are separate things but they are being mixed by the Modi government to mislead people and get their votes.
He added that while Congress leaders have laid down their lives for the country, the BJP has never any such sacrifices.
"Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed their lives to keep the country united. Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru spent years in jail to achieve freedom. What has the BJP done," Kharge asked.
He said a party which had done nothing for the country is teaching people about country, independence and patriotism.
"Congress leaders sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country's independence...the RSS or BJP did not even loose a watchman in the freedom struggle," he said.
Be it GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, BHEL, GAIL, AIIMS (Rishikesh), NIT, IIM or ONGC, they were all created by the Congress governments in the past, Kharge asserted.
"What has Modi done except telling lies and telling them repeatedly so that people take them as the truth?" he claimed.
Kharge questioned the veracity of Modi's "guarantee" asking him what came out of his promises of bringing back black money and putting Rs 15 lakh each in the pocket of every Indian, doubling farmers' income and providing two crore jobs to the youth.
He also accused the Centre and the BJP-led state governments of creating hurdles in the Congress' yatras and rallies so that they fail.
Kharge said the BJP government of Assam created obstacles during Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
"The Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir went on smoothly. Even Rahul Gandhi's Nyay Yatra faced no hurdle in Manipur and Nagaland but when it entered BJP-ruled Assam trouble began. The yatra was pelted with stones at some places and the party's posters were removed," he alleged.
Kharge blamed the Modi govt for the delay in his arrival for the meeting, claiming that the permission for landing of his aircraft was delayed.
The Congress leader alleged the central and state governments want that the people who come to listen to the speeches of Congress leaders in rallies should return after getting tired.
On Saturday night, state Congress chief Karan Mahara and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Yashpal Arya, along with party workers, staged a protest at the police headquarters here after Kharge's helicopter was reportedly not given clearance for landing.
However, later the administration gave permission for his helicopter to land at the Police Lines.
Kharge also asked party workers to meet people and work hard to win their trust.
"No election can be won without hard work," he said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
