Empty jugglery of words, not Sankalp Patra but 'jumla patra': Congress on BJP manifesto

The Congress on Sunday trashed the BJP Lok Sabha poll manifesto as a jumla patra (rhetorical document), with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge saying Modi's guarantee is a "warranty of jumlas" as he has failed to fulfil promises made in the past.

The Congress also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not fulfilling promises made on issues such as jobs, doubling of farmers' incomes, and price rise and inflation, and alleged that he was now shifting goalposts by talking about 2047 instead.

Kharge charged that the prime minister did not do any major work during his tenure which would have benefited the people, youth and farmers of the country.

Modi released the BJP's Lok Sabha poll manifesto at the party headquarters in Delhi on Sunday. The manifesto professes to provide special focus on the poor, youngsters, farmers and women

Kharge said the youth are agitating for jobs, and prices of food items have skyrocketed owing to inflation and people are troubled by it, but the manifesto has nothing to say about it. Modi has only increased unemployment and inflation in the last 10 years, he charged.

"No accountability for old guarantees, just empty jugglery of words! 'Modi ki Guarantee' equals 'warranty of jumlas (rhetoric)," he said in a post in Hindi, posing 14 questions to the PM.

Addressing a joint press conference, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said in his 2014 manifesto, Modi had promised to bring back black money by forming a special task force, but electoral bonds came instead. He also promised to strengthen law and order in the North-East, but today, violence is continuing in Manipur, on which PM Modi is maintaining silence, Khera claimed.

Khera also alleged that Modi promised that poverty in 100 districts would be eradicated through a special package, but data from the Global Hunger Index reveals the truth.

The BJP had promised to build 100 new smart cities but they were never made and instead, China is building "smart villages" on the border, the Congress leader said. "The public is fed up with these promises of Narendra Modi and is extremely angry," he claimed.

"We have strong objections to the name of the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra', it should be named maafinama (call for apology). Modi ji should have apologised to Dalits, farmers, youth and tribals of the country," Khera said.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, "This is not a manifesto but a jumla patra." She said while the Congress set up its manifesto committee in December and collected suggestions from a cross-section of people across the country, the BJP's manifesto committee was set up 13 days ago and presented their manifesto without any consultations.

"PM Modi, after 10 years of rule, has started fooling people. The claim that 25 crore people were taken out of poverty is hollow and no third party has confirmed it. The truth is that every hour, two farmers and two youth are dying by suicide in the country.

"In a country where there is maximum joblessness, the mention of jobs comes only twice in the BJP manifesto. There is no mention of legal guarantee of MSP in the manifesto. There is no mention of Manipur or China in the BJP's manifesto," she said. "People are saying enough of your jumlas, it is time to bring another government."