BJP’s poll manifesto full of rhetoric, says Oppn
Several Opposition parties on Sunday took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls, terming it a “jumla patra” (document of rhetoric), with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee is a “warranty of jumlas” as he has failed to fulfil his past promises.
The principal opposition party also accused Modi of neglecting significant issues such as job creation, doubling farmers’ incomes, and addressing inflation in the BJP manifesto or Sankalp Patra, titled “Modi ki guarantee”.
“No accountability for old guarantees, just empty jugglery of words! ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ equals ‘warranty of jumlas’,” Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said that two words, “inflation and unemployment”, were missing from the BJP’s manifesto and Modi’s speech. “The BJP does not even want to discuss the most important issues related to people’s lives…,” he posted on X. “INDIA’s plan is very clear — recruitment in 30 lakh (3 million) posts and a permanent job of ₹1 lakh to every educated youngster. This time the youngsters are not going to fall into Modi’s trap…”
Modi, along with Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and party chief JP Nadda, released the BJP manifesto at the party headquarters in Delhi, outlining a vision for India’s development journey and focusing specially on the poor, youngsters, farmers and women.
Calling the BJP’s poll manifesto a “jumla patra” that “breaks world record of lies”, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav said people have already made a resolve to make the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc win.
“If BJP has the courage, then it should bring out its manifesto of 2014 and 2019 and give an account of which of its promises it fulfilled. BJP’s sankalp patra is just a document of ‘jumla’ that breaks the record of lies in the universe,” Yadav said in a post in Hindi on the micro-blogging site.
“When the public has already resolved to make INDIA bloc win and defeat BJP by choosing their bright future as an option, then BJP’s ‘Sankalp Patra’ is of no use…,” he added.
Another INDIA bloc ally, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alleged that the BJP manifesto “ignored” unemployment, issues concerning farmers and inflation.
“There is no mention of jobs and employment anywhere in the BJP manifesto. There is no mention of reducing inflation, unemployment and poverty. There is nothing in the manifesto for 60% youth of the country, 80% farmers and villages of the country,” RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav told reporters in Patna.
“BJP’s manifesto has exposed the mindset of its leaders towards backward and poor states… There is nothing in it for the development and upliftment of such states like Bihar.”
Reacting to the ruling party’s poll promises, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi minister Atishi accused the BJP of not fulfilling its promises even after staying in power for 10 years.
“Today the BJP has given the ‘jumla patra’ to the entire country. Even after running the government for 10 years, they were not able to fulfil even one of their promises. They had promised the youth that 2 crore (20 million) jobs would be given every year but today the country’s unemployment figure is the highest in the history of this country,” Atishi said.
Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SCP) national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said: “Once again the BJP manifesto, like in the past, is making tall promises. They have not been able to fulfil their promises in the last 10 years of governance.”
“Once again, tall promises have been made and it looks like they will not be able to fulfil them,” he added.