Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot, AICC National Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala release a booklet “India Betrayes … In Four Years of BJP’s Misrule” during a press conference, in New Delhi on Saturday. (Express Photo By Amit Mehra)
COUNTERING THE BJP-led government’s fourth anniversary publicity campaign, the Congress on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his party and his government have been lying, misrepresenting facts and figures, and indulging in propaganda. The Congress said it has become clear that Modi is “harmful (haanikaarak”) for the country.
Observing the government’s fourth anniversary as a “day of betrayal”, top Congress leaders addressed press conferences across the country, released a “4 years, 40 questions” booklet, and a short video, with the central message that the Prime Minister and the BJP are indulging in lies and propaganda.
Addressing a press conference in the capital, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said: “Jhoot pe jhoot, jhoot pe jhoot… kitna jhoot bologe… logon ke kaan pak gaye (Lies, lies and more lies… how much will you lie… the people are fed up).”
The party tried to corner the government on national security and corruption — issues which were often raised to attack the previous UPA government. Tweeting his report card of the NDA government, Congress president Rahul Gandhi gave an ‘F’ in agriculture, foreign policy and job creation, and ‘A+’ in slogan-creation and self-promotion.
“4 year Report Card. Agriculture: F, Foreign Policy: F, Fuel Price: F, Job Creation: F, Slogan Creation: A+, Self Promotion: A+, Yoga: B-. Remarks: Master communicator; struggles with complex issues; short attention span,” he tweeted.
AICC communication department head Randeep Surjewala said the BJP should now be officially renamed as “Betrayal Janata Party”. The four years of Modi government, he said, can be described in four words — treachery, trickery, revenge and lies.
Senior Congress leaders release a booklet “India Betrayes … In Four Years of BJP’s Misrule” during a press conference, in New Delhi on Saturday. (Express Photo By Amit Mehra)
“There is an atmosphere of fear, hatred and violence in the country… every family, every section is unhappy and scared. Falsehood, untruth and lies are hidden in every word. He (Modi) gives false data to mislead the people… for example, he talks about having electrified 18,000 villages and claims it as a big achievement. India has around 6 lakh villages. Who electrified the rest of the villages? What about those 5.82 lakh villages…this is his politics,” said senior party leader Ashok Gehlot.
“After four years, is the country safe? Have prices come down? Has the rupee strengthened? Has the national security situation improved? Their only ploy has been to tell lies, sell lies, garner votes on the basis of those lies, make people fight, indulge in horse-trading… and form governments,” said Azad.
The Congress said there is a long list of unfulfilled promises made by the BJP — from doubling the income of farmers, to creating two crore jobs per year, fixing MSPs to cover costs of farmers plus 50 per cent, to strengthening the rupee.
Azad said national security was an issue on which the Prime Minister spoke the most during his 2014 election campaign. “He exploited national security to the hilt… and got votes in the name of national security. And what is the situation today? Nobody is safe under the Modi government. Nobody is safe, everybody is having sleepless nights. In Jammu and Kashmir, the highest number of deaths — both of army personnel and civilians — were recorded in the last four years… ceasefire violations have touched a record high, and never before has India seen so many terrorist attacks on our military installations,” he said.
Saying that Modi goes on bilateral visits without any agenda, he said: “How can the Prime Minister go to a country without an agenda. Is the Prime Minister of India so free that he can visit countries three-four times, sometimes with agenda and sometimes without agenda.”
He said while the promise of bringing back black money has not yielded any results, the Prime Minister did manage to sent white money abroad along with Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya. “That is his biggest accomplishment,” he said, adding that development was “only on paper, television, advertisements, but not on the ground.”