HT Navi Mumbai

‘DALITS, TRIBALS WILL TURN SLAVES AGAIN IF MODI, SHAH RE-ELECTED’

- Press Trust of India letters@hindustant­imes.com

DHULE (MAHARASHTR­A): Congress president Mallikarju­n Kharge on Sunday claimed that a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah would mean the poor, Dalits and tribals would be “treated like slaves”.

Addressing a campaign rally in Maharashtr­a’s Dhule constituen­cy, Kharge accused Modi of failing to deliver on his promises of bringing back black money and providing jobs.

“Before Independen­ce, the poor, Dalits and tribals were treated like slaves. If you give a third term to Modi and Shah, the same situation will repeat. We will become slaves again,” he said.

Congress has fielded former MLA Shobha Bachhav against former Union minister Subhash Bhamre of BJP from Dhule Lok Sabha constituen­cy which will vote on May 20.

“RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had said in 2015 that the Constituti­on should be changed. Later, many BJP MPs and saffron party leaders also made similar statements,” Kharge said. He accused PM Modi of “spreading lies”. Modi chestthump­ed about bringing back black money from abroad but never delivered on that promise, said Kharge. “He claimed to provide two crore jobs every year but never did. Instead of increasing farmers’ income, as per his claims, his wrong policies increased the production cost for growers. That is why Modi should be removed from power,” Kharge added.

He also brought up the issue of social unrest in Manipur due to ethnic clashes.

“When the people of Manipur were suffering so much, Modi never uttered a single word about it. He is a coward who did not even visit there. Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, started his Nyay Yatra from there and also interacted with people. “Modi talks about ‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas’, but what he did is ‘sabka satyanash’ (destructio­n),” he said.

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