Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to seek votes based on his government’s performance during the past 10 years and not to indulge in hate speeches.
In the letter, Kharge said, “I saw the letter written by you to all the NDA candidates about what they need to communicate to the voters. From the tone and content of the letter it seems that there is a lot of desperation and worry in you which is leading you to use language that does not suit the office of the Prime Minister. The letter makes it look like the lies in your speeches are not having the effect you intended and now you want your candidates to amplify your lies. Repeating a lie a thousand times will not make it the truth.”
Highlighting the Congress’s NYAY guarantees mentioned in its manifesto, Kharge said, “Voters are intelligent enough to read and understand by themselves what the Congress has written in its manifesto and what Guarantees we have promised. In your letter, you claim that reservation will be taken away from SC, ST and OBC and given to ‘our vote bank’. Our vote bank is every Indian - the poor, the marginalised, the women, the aspirational youth, the labour class, the Dalits and the Adivasis.”
Denying claims of Congress trying to appease Muslims for votes, Kharge said, “The only appeasement policy that we have seen in the last 10 years is the appeasement of Chinese by you and your ministers. Even today, you refuse to call China as ‘Ghuspaithiye’, instead on June 19, 2020, you said “Na Koi Ghusa Hai, Na Hi Koi Ghus Aaya hai”, insulting the supreme sacrifice of 20 Indian soldiers in Galwan. Your public ‘Clean Chit’ to China, has weakened India’s case and made it more belligerent.” Kharge charged the imports of Chinese goods to India have increased by 54.76 per cent in the past five years alone and have crossed $101 billion in 2023-24.
“I would like to take this opportunity to request you to direct your party to return the Rs 10 crores that were swindled from the poor Dalit farmers in Gujarat and given as electoral bonds to BJP. Your party amassed Rs 8,250 crores through the “illegal and unconstitutional” Electoral Bonds from various companies using Chanda Do-Dhanda Lo, Theka Lo-Ghoos Do, Hafta Vasooli and Farzi company routes and schemes. Out of the 8,250 crores, you can return at least Rs 10 crores to this Dalit family,” Kharge wrote.
“You are not interested in talking about the ever widening inequality. You are not interested in talking about unemployment and unprecedented price rise, that is affecting our people. You are not interested in talking about the increasing atrocities on women by your leaders,” Kharge charged. Kharge challenged Modi to debate Congress on their manifesto and his claims.
“As I mentioned in my earlier letter, when the elections are over, people will only remember you as the Prime Minister who indulged in divisive and communal speeches filled with lies to avoid an inevitable defeat,” Kharge noted.
