PM Modi can't be honest about Cong manifesto even by mistake: Ramesh

The Congress on Friday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president J.P. Nadda are resorting to polarisation as they are afraid that the party will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha election. They also accused the PM of continuing to "lie" about the Congress election manifesto or Nyay Patra and spreading divisive and communal messages.

In a video posted to his X handle, Congress MP and general-secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said, "The prime minister has once again proved by what he said in Bihar that he cannot speak the truth about the Congress Nyay Patra even by mistake."

The senior Congress leader said PM Modi's comment that the Congress manifesto contained a reference to 55 per cent inheritance tax was "a complete lie", and accused the PM of conducting a false and misleading campaign. "But then, what can we expect of the prime minister? He is constantly trying to divert attention from unemployment, price rise, economic inequality, and the daily problems of common people," he said.

Ramesh also said PM Modi probably felt that if he kept repeating an untruth, "some day, somewhere, somebody will believe it", and claimed that instead of "Modi leher (wave)" in the country, there was only "Modi zeher (poison)".

On two more topics that the BJP has raised a hue and cry about — redistribution of wealth and the Congress' apparent plans to deprive Dalits of reservations and offer them to Muslims — Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge posted another video featuring an interview of his, in which he points out that the Congress was the first party to implement OBC reservation in Karnataka, through the efforts of late PM Indira Gandhi and then chief minister Devraj Urs.

"The way Modi ji is speaking, as if we will enter people's homes (to snatch their wealth)... would be understandable for an ordinary citizen. How can a man who has been chief minister for 13.5 years and PM for 10 years be so childish?"

Kharge also repeated the assertion that the BJP had used the funds it acquired through electoral bonds to construct huge party offices. "Where did the money come from? Do such things happen for free?" he asked.

In a separate post on X, Ramesh has listed "danger signs for our democracy since Phase I voting on April 19th 2024", pointing to the manner in which the "BJP connived and intimidated to ensure that its candidate in Surat Lok Sabha gets 'elected unopposed'," how six districts in eastern Nagaland registered near-zero voter turnout on 19 April, how militia groups conducted "whole-scale booth capturing" in Inner Manipur constituency, and how today, in Ukhrul district of Outer Manipur, voters were forced to vote only for the NPF, the BJP’s alliance partner.

Ramesh has also said that PM Modi "has been indulging in the most shameful, false communal rhetoric with zero consequences from the Election Commission", and pointed out how the INDIA coalition’s candidate in Khajuraho, Meera Yadav, had her nomination rejected.