In a recent development, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting a meeting to discuss the party’s ‘Nyay Patra’. Kharge expressed concerns over alleged “misinformation” being fed to the Prime Minister by his advisors, emphasising that certain claims made by PM Modi regarding the manifesto were unfounded. The Congress chief clarified that the ‘Nyay Patra’ does not contain provisions as accused by the Prime Minister, refuting claims of wealth redistribution and targeting women’s symbols like the ‘mangalsutra’. This move by Kharge comes in response to PM Modi’s criticism of the Congress manifesto during the Lok Sabha elections.
What did Kharge write in his letter?
In his letter, Kharge said the Congress’ ‘Nyay Patra’ aims at providing “nyay (justice)” to the youngsters, women, farmers, labourers and marginalised people across all castes and communities. “It has become your habit to seize on a few words taken out of context and create a communal divide. You are lowering the dignity of the chair by speaking in this manner,” he said. “You are being misinformed by your advisors about things that are not even written in our manifesto. I would be more than happy to meet you in person to explain our ‘Nyay Patra’ so that, as prime minister of the country, you don’t make any statements that are false,” he added.
The Congress chief also said he is neither shocked nor surprised by the language used by the Prime Minister in his recent speeches. “It was expected that you and other leaders from your party would start speaking in this manner after you saw the dismal performance of the BJP in the first phase of the elections,” Kharge said in the letter.
Kharge takes ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ jibe
The Congress has been talking about the deprived poor and their rights (“nyay”), he said and added, “We are aware that you and your government do not have any concern for the poor and dispossessed. Your ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ works for the corporates whose taxes you reduced while the salaried class pays higher taxes. The poor pay GST even on food and salt and the rich corporate claim GST refunds. That is why, when we talk of inequality between the rich and the poor, you are purposely equating it with Hindu and Muslim. “Our manifesto is for the people of India — whether they are Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain or Buddhist. I think you have still not forgotten your pre-Independence allies the Muslim League and colonial masters,” he charged.
Kharge claimed that Congress has always served to empower the poor while “you have ruled to snatch the earnings and wealth of the poor”. The Congress chief suggested that Modi read about “Nari Nyay” that, he said, the party will implement when it comes to power. Kharge also advised the prime minister to not “get carried away by your own people who are clapping at your speeches”.
Lok Sabha Elections 2nd phase
It should be noted here that the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections is scheduled to take place on Friday, April 26. The polling will take place in 88 seats across 13 states. The first phase, held last Friday for 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories, saw a turnout of approximately 65.5 per cent.
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