The Hindu (Bangalore)

Inflation, unemployme­nt missing from BJP manifesto, says Congress

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The Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto should be called a maafinama (document of apology) instead of being called a sankalp patra (manifesto), the Congress said on Sunday, recalling the BJP’s “unfulfilled promises” during its previous two terms in power.

“Two words are missing from the BJP’s manifesto and Narendra Modi’s speech — inflation and unemployme­nt,” former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X.

“INDIA’s plan is very clear — recruitmen­t in 30 lakh 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. They will strengthen the hands of the Congress and bring an ‘employment revolution’ in the country,” he added.

The principal Opposition party alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not honour his previous promises to create two crore jobs annually, to double farmers’ income, and to tackle inflation, and accused him of now shifting the goalposts by talking about 2047.

“The BJP’s Modifesto is 76 pages long. It has 53 photos of the Camerajeev­i. It is a farewell memento to the man who in the past ten years has distorted, damaged, denied, diverted, denigrated, and defamed,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, in a post on X.

Addressing a press conference, Congress spokespers­on Pawan Khera said, “We have strong objections to the name of the BJP’s sankalp patra. It should be called maafinama instead. Mr. Modi should have apologised to the Dalits, farmers, youngsters, and tribal people.”

He alleged that the Prime Minister had promised to bring back black money by forming a special task force, but had instead introduced electoral bonds; he talked of strengthen­ing law and order in the Northeast, but instead, violence continues unabated in Manipur. Instead of 100 new smart cities being built in the country, China is building “smart villages” along the border, Mr. Khera added.

Asked about the Ram temple issue, the Congress spokespers­on said, “Ram is an issue of faith and not of politics. We will not allow the BJP to drag him into politics.”

Drawing comparison­s with their own processes, Congress spokespers­on Supriya Shrinate said that the Congress had set up its manifesto committee in December last year and collected suggestion­s from a crosssecti­on of people, while the BJP’s manifesto panel was set up only 13 days ago.

Ram is an issue of faith and not of politics. We will not allow the BJP to drag him into politics PAWAN KHERA Congress spokespers­on

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