Rajasthan speech: Kharge seeks Modi’s time to ‘educate’ him about Cong manifesto

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “educate him” about the party manifesto, the party has said.

The party chief’s move on Monday (April 22) came a day after Modi said at a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara that the Congress, if voted to power, would distribute people’s hard-earned money and valuables among “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”.

Kharge’s tweet

Late on Sunday, Kharge took to social media platform X (Twitter) to slam PM Modi’s remarks as “hate speech” and “a well-thought-out ploy” to divert people’s attention because the INDIA bloc “is winning in the first-phase [of Lok Sabha poll] results”.

He pointed out that the Congress manifesto is “for every Indian” and has no mention of religion. “Lying for power, making baseless references to things and making false accusations on opponents is the specialty of the training of RSS and BJP,” Kharge said in his tweet.

“Communal polarisation”

KC Venugopal, AICC general secretary in charge of organisation, said Modi’s statements were not befitting the post of prime minister and that Kharge had sought an appointment with Modi to “educate him” about the party manifesto.

Venugopal said all Congress leaders, including party candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, will send copies of the manifesto to Modi and the party will file a petition against Modi before the election commission with the signature of one lakh people.

He alleged that Modi was trying to create “communal polarisation” in the country for electoral gains by claiming something that wasn’t there in the Congress manifesto. He also alleged that Modi distorted the speech of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“Same divisive tactics in Manipur”

“When India’s Prime Minister makes the worst hate speech in the history of hate speeches, I would like to know what action they (ECI) are planning to take. This is a blatant violation of the Model Code of Conduct. This was a public call to incite violence and divide the people of the country,” Venugopal charged.

He said the Prime Minister resorted to such “low-level tactics” after he understood that the first phase of the election, which got over, was not favourable to them. Venugopal alleged that the BJP and the Prime Minister were targeting communities one by one and were moving forward with one agenda: “polarisation of the community”.

“He used the same divisive tactics in Manipur. Manipur has been burning for the last 11 months. He could have visited and resolved the issue. Numerous religious institutions were burned. He refused to shed a single tear for Manipur. Women were disrobed, assaulted, and raped. The PM was silent,” Venugopal said.

Jairam Ramesh’s jibe

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, took a swipe at Modi, saying he would “go down in history as the PM who has overseen the largest scale sale and mortgage of the gold jewellery owned by Indian women”.

He added that demonetisation, GST, and the unplanned COVID lockdown and poor relief packages “pushed India’s households into the highest levels of debt”. “Net savings are at the lowest level ever (5 per cent of GDP). Families have been forced to sell their gold, or take loans by pledging their gold as collateral — a state of distress and desperation,” he added.

“In February of 2024, gold loans crossed the Rs. 1 lakh crore mark for the first time in India’s history. These are shameful statistics,” the Congress leader wrote.

EC’s silence worse: Yechury

Other Opposition leaders also slammed Modi for his comments, with some leaders appealing to people to reach out to the Election Commission of India.

In a post on X, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said while the prime minister’s remarks are atrocious, the silence of the Election Commission was “more atrocious”.

“…Modi’s inflammatory speech is a gross violation of the Model Code of Conduct and Supreme Court pronouncements on Hate Speech,” Yechury said. “Merits strictest action and contempt of Court,” he added. The CPI(M) leader hoped the Supreme Court would take note of the incident and take action.

Party sources said a petition signed by “concerned citizens” would be sent to the Election Commission.

Plea for letter to EC

Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale also appealed to the people to write to the Election Commission over Modi’s remarks.

In a post on X, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP shared the email id of the Chief Election Commissioner, and urged people to write to him, stating that the poll panel does not listen to the Opposition.

“Election Commission ignores the Opposition and has kept giving a free pass to Modi and the BJP. During elections, the EC is not accountable to political parties. But – they’re accountable to the people of India,” Gokhale said.

He urged at least a thousand “responsible Indian citizens” to send a short email to the CEC demanding strict action against Modi for his remarks.

Owaisi hits out at PM

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also hit out at Modi, saying the only guarantee Modi has given since 2002 is to “abuse Muslims”.

“Modi today called Muslims infiltrators and people with many children. Since 2002 till this day, the only Modi guarantee has been to abuse Muslims and get votes,” he wrote on X.

“If one is talking about the country’s wealth, one should know that under Modi’s rule the first right to India’s wealth has been of his wealthy friends. 1% of Indians own 40% of the country’s wealth. Common Hindus are made to fear Muslims while their wealth is being used to enrich others,” he added.

Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, in an X post, called his speech “extremely misleading, hateful in content and is as divisive as it can get”.

Modi’s speech

Speaking in Banswara on Sunday, Modi claimed that “the Congress manifesto says they will take stock of the gold mothers and sisters have, get information about it, and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom? Manmohan Singh’s government had said Muslims have the first right to the country’s assets.”

He added that it meant the “property be distributed among those who have more children…the infiltrators”. “Should your hard-earned money go to the infiltrators? Do you approve of this?” Modi added in his speech.

(With agency inputs)