The legislature on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of resorting to the “age-old script” of polarization and trepidation, asserting that he lacks faith in his administration to contest the Lok Sabha election on substantive matters.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate asserted that Prime Minister Modi and the BJP must clarify whether they oppose or endorse the caste census.
“This query necessitates a definitive response with ‘affirmative’ or ‘negative’. Why do you resist representing the populace?” she articulated during a press briefing at the AICC headquarters in this city.
She also censured him for his remarks on ‘mangalsutra’, contending that he failed to acknowledge the significance of the ‘mangalsutra’. “When the electoral season arrived, we anticipated substantial discussions on pressing matters such as severe unemployment and soaring inflation. Yet, all these concerns were sidelined; the Prime Minister of this nation resorted to the same rhetoric he has been espousing since 2002 – the rhetoric of polarization, segmentation, apprehension, and mistrust,” she remarked.
The prime minister of this nation lacks the requisite confidence in his administration and party to contest elections by addressing pertinent issues, Shrinate maintained. “Modi ji finds fault with the Congress manifesto. However, I extend my gratitude to you because your fallacies and propaganda have disseminated the Congress manifesto to every household,” she expressed.
Shrinate alleged that Modi is deeply perturbed by the inclusion of the caste census in the manifesto. “Therefore, today I pose this question to Narendra Modi ji… Is it erroneous to deliberate on the impoverished?
What is your qualm regarding the well-being of the destitute? We are discussing an X-ray. What is the objection to that,” she queried. Modi has fostered ‘two distinct Indias’ over the past decade – one where the vegetable vendor weeps due to inflation, and at G-20, a veil is drawn to obscure destitution; the other India is one of allure, where individuals are enraptured by Modi and venerate him, she articulated.
“Narendra Modi ji, you have not served the destitute well. You compelled the destitute to traverse under the blazing sun during Covid. Throughout Covid, the destitute were compelled to wander from one doorstep to another for medicines and oxygen. The destitute were fed the false hope of boarding an aircraft…a monopoly was established, and small enterprises were shuttered,” Shrinate asserted.
With demonetization, the destitute were made to queue up, she recounted, adding, “You (Modi) stripped away the entitlements of the impoverished”. Shrinate also accused the BJP of twisting Rahul Gandhi’s statements in a video by omitting SCs, STs, and OBCs, and only emphasizing the term minorities.