2024 LS polls: PM Modi claims Congress manifesto 'bears imprint of Muslim League'
SAHARANPUR: Virtually equating the Congress with the Muslim League, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the grand old party's election manifesto reflects the same thought as that of the Muslim League at the time of the freedom movement and claimed that part of it is dominated by leftists.
Addressing an election rally in Saharanpur, Modi said the opposition alliance was fighting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections just to stop the BJP from winning more than 370 seats.
"Yesterday, the kind of election manifesto that was released, it has proved that today's Congress is completely cut off from the hopes and aspirations of today's India," he added.
Modi further claimed that the opposition INDIA bloc's aim is to earn commission after coming to power, while the BJP-led NDA is on a mission.
"During its rule, the Congress' focus was on earning commissions. The INDI alliance too aims to earn commission after coming to power but the NDA and Modi sarkar is on a mission," Modi said.
"The opposition is fighting just to stop the BJP from winning more than 370 seats. The Samajwadi Party is changing candidates every hour while the Congress can't even find candidates to field," Modi said.
"The Congress does not have the courage to field candidates even in those seats which are considered its stronghold," he added.
Modi also said the Congress, which existed at the time of the freedom movement, has "ended decades ago."
"A number of great personalities were associated with the Congress. The name of Mahatma Gandhi was associated with the Congress. The Congress, which is left today, neither has policies in the interest of the nation nor vision for the nation's development," Prime Minister Modi said.
The prime minister said the INDIA bloc has become synonymous with instability and uncertainty and the people of the country were not taking them seriously. He said it is the misfortune of the country that the opposition alliance is talking about fighting against 'shakti'.
"Worshipping shakti is a part of our natural spiritual journey. But, the people of the INDI alliance say their fight is against shakti," Modi said.
Prime Minister Modi also took a jibe at the Samajwadi Party, which is a member of the INDIA bloc and an election partner of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.
"The situation of SP (Samajwadi Party) in Uttar Pradesh is such that here they have to change their candidates every hour, whereas the situation of Congress is even more strange. The Congress is not getting candidates at all," Prime Minister Modi said.
"Even on the seats, which the Congress considered as its stronghold, it is not able to muster the courage to field candidates," he added, apparently referring to the Congress strongholds of Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Without taking the names of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Prime Minister Modi said, "You might remember here in Uttar Pradesh that the film featuring two boys ('do ladke'), which had flopped last time, the film of two boys has been re-released by these people."
"I do not understand how many times these INDI alliance members will put the wooden pot (on fire)?" he added.
The Congress and the Samajwadi Party had also contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections together.
According to the election schedule, eight parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will vote in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 19.
These are Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)