JAIPUR: Launching a scathing attack on BJP and PM Modi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said BJP’s attempt to create an “India-Bharat divide” is a sign of the saffron brigade being rattled by the INDIA alliance.
Speaking at a farmers’ meet in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district, Kharge asserted India and Bharat are one according to the Constitution and that is why Congress has been talking about a major movement for Bharat Jodo, led by Rahul Gandhi, in his yatra across the country.
The Congress president rubbished attempts to rake up the Red Diary issue, which the BJP alleged contained corrupt deals of the Gehlot government. Fiercely attacking the BJP over the Bharat vs India controversy, Kharge said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now nervous about the INDIA alliance.
“We brought together like-minded people and formed an organisation, which was named INDIA. But BJP people are afraid of the ‘INDIA alliance.’ Now they are saying ‘Bharat’ instead of India. It is written in the Constitution itself – India that is Bharat. We are already talking about ‘uniting India.’
Kharge further referred to the ‘Red Diary’ controversy as an attempt to drag the country into unnecessary debates. “Congress never deceives; it strives to empower the people,” Kharge said, rubbishing issues raised by the BJP.
Addressing the public gathering, he said "The BJP government asks what the Congress did in 53 years? Alongside implementing land reforms, the Congress government in Rajasthan also opened doors to banking for the poor...However, the BJP government lacks the courage to do the same," he said.
Regarding the Red Diary issue, which has been a topic of extensive discussion in Rajasthan politics recently, Kharge claimed that there is no red, yellow or any other diary, it’s just a bogus attempt to try and scare the Congress.
He challenged the BJP that if there is any diary they should come out with it so that Congress could fight it out politically or legally rather than to defame the government. Kharge remarked, “BJP members try to intimidate us by claiming I have a ‘red diary,’ ‘yellow diary,’ ‘black diary.’ Keep your diaries to yourself.”