BENGALURU: AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his willingness to meet and clarify the reality of the Congress manifesto, which the latter has said 'bears imprint of Muslim League' and accused of being biased towards Muslims in the elections.
Kharge responded to Modi's statement that if Congress comes back to power it will conduct a census and redistribute the wealth among Muslims and will not even spare the 'mangal sutra' of the "Hindu mothers and sisters".
Hitting back at Modi, in his letter Kharge said "You and your government have repeatedly turned away from the atrocities that the poor and backward women are facing in the country. Today, you talk about their mangalsutra. Isn't your government responsible for the atrocities against women in Manipur, atrocities against Dalit girls, garlanding of rapists? When farmers are committing suicides under your government, how are you protecting their wives and children? Please read about the 'Nari Nyay' which we will be Implementing when we come to power".
"It has become a habit for you 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. When all of this is over, people will remember that the Prime Minister of the country used such vulgar language for fear of losing an election. Do not get carried away by your own people who are clapping at your speeches. They are not allowing you to hear the crores of right thinking citizens who are disappointed by your speeches", he alleged.
Kharge started his letter with his opening remarks saying; "Dear Pradhan Mantri JI,I hope this letter finds you in good health. I am neither shocked nor surprised by your language or your speeches over the last few days. 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". The Congress has been talking about the deprived poor and their rights (Nyay) and the Modi government does not have any concern for the poor and dispossessed, Kharge alleged.
"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 rich corporate claim GST refunds. That is why when we talk of inequality between rich and 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 Buddhists. I think you have still not forgotten your pre- Independence allies, the Muslim League and Colonial Masters" Kharge said.
The Congress has always served to empower the poor and you have ruled to snatch the earnings and wealth of the poor. Your government was the one who used Demonetisation as an "organised loot and legalised plunder" to transfer the money deposited by the poor in the banks to the rich in the form of loans. Then as a part of conscious design these loans were surreptitiously written off by your government. The lakhs of crores of corporate loans that your government has written off since 2014 is the transfer of wealth from poor to rich. No farmer's loan, artisans loans, MSME loan or students loans were waived off by you, Kharge elaborated.
"The Congress Nyay Patra aims at providing Nyay to the youth, women, farmers, labourers and marginalised people across all castes and communities. 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 the Prime Minister of the country you don't make any statements that are false", Kharge advised as a closing remark.
Kharge earlier had hit back at Modi during LS polls campaigns in the Bengaluru on Monday and had invited Modi for an open debate anywhere including the national capital. As Modi did not respond to his invite, he was forced to write a letter employing sarcasm to elaborate on the Congress party's manifesto, titled 'Congress Nyay Patra'. This letter was written shortly before the commencement of the second phase of polling, which includes fourteen Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, Kharge's home state, where the electoral stakes are high.