Govt at war with its own people: Cong

nNEWDELHI: The Congress on Saturday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first year of his second term in office as a period of “disappointment, disastrous management, and diabolical pain”. It said that at the end of its six years in power, it appears that the Modi government is “at war with its people, inflicting wounds instead of healing them”.

“Over the last six years, India witnessed a steady increase in the politics of distraction and false noise,” said Congress general secretary KC Venugopal. “Never before has a government been so at odds with itself and its own people. India was the beacon of democracy in the region but now under the Modi government, we risk becoming a cautionary tale.”

The Congress called it somewhat surprising that the Bharatiya Janata Party still has not grasped the most fundamental lesson of governance in a democracy. “We are elected to serve, listen, protect and uplift. Not to divide, mislead and distract,” said Venugopal as the Modi government completed the first year of his second term on Saturday.

The Congress said Modi came to power promising 20 million jobs annually in 2014, but India has witnessed the highest unemployment rate in the last 45 years in 2017-18. It added after Covid-19 wrecked the Indian economy, the unemployment rate has soared to an unprecedented 27.11%. The Congress said GDP has become synonymous with “Grossly Declining Performance” and alleged that the economy was mismanaged to the point of ruin.

The Trinamool Congress, too, termed the achievements of the second Narendra Modi government in its first year as “zero”. TMC Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O’brien said: “The first figure that comes to mind while describing the achievements of the first year of the second Modi government is zero. The people of this country will remember the functioning of the first year of the second Modi government as zero.”