PM spoke on 'mandir-masjid' 421 times during campaign: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about 'mandir-masjid' and divisive issues 421 times while campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls, despite the Election Commission of India's directive to not appeal for votes on caste and religious lines.

Addressing a press conference on the final day of campaigning for the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha elections, he also said Modi in his speeches over the last 15 days mentioned the Congress 232 times, and his own name 758 times. But he didn't talk about unemployment even once.

The INDIA bloc will form government with a clear majority and it will give the country an inclusive, nationalistic government, he said. "We are confident that people will give a mandate for an alternative government on 4 June," the Congress chief said. "People have endorsed "our view that if this government gets another chance, it will be the end of democracy."

Kharge also took a swipe at the prime minister over his comments in an interview that global awareness about Mahatma Gandhi spread only after Richard Attenborough's 1982 film, saying the PM may not have studied about Gandhi, but the Mahatma is known the world over.