In Kochi, Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the Congress party, has requested a meeting with the Prime Minister to “enlighten him” on the party’s manifesto. This request comes in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s contentious address at an election rally in Rajasthan, where he accused the Congress of intending to allocate the hard-earned money and possessions of the people to “intruders” and “those with a greater number of offspring.”

“Previously, when their regime prevailed, they stated that the nation’s wealth primarily belongs to Muslims. This implies, whom will they confer this wealth upon? Those with a larger number of offspring, they will distribute it to them, to infiltrators. Are you amenable to your diligent earnings being bestowed upon infiltrators? Is this agreeable to you?” Modi articulated during a rally in Banswara, Rajasthan, on Sunday.

K.C. Venugopal, the AICC general secretary in-charge of organisation, divulged that Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has requested a meeting with the Prime Minister to “enlighten him” on the party’s manifesto.

Kharge has branded PM Modi’s comments as “incendiary rhetoric” and “a meticulously planned strategy” to divert the populace’s attention, suggesting that the PM was ‘disenchanted’ with the initial phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The Congress leader has categorically stated that the party’s manifesto “makes no reference to the terms Muslim and Hindu”.

Further condemning his remarks, Venugopal opined that Modi made assertions unbecoming of the Prime Minister’s office. He asserted that the Prime Minister was quoting something not found in the Congress manifesto and was endeavoring to instigate “sectarian polarization” in the nation for electoral gains.

The Congress intensified its assault on Modi after he insinuated that if the Congress ascends to power, it would redistribute the populace’s wealth to Muslims, citing former PM Manmohan Singh’s assertion that the minority community had primary entitlement to the nation’s resources. Venugopal proclaimed that all Congress leaders, including the party’s Lok Sabha election candidates, will dispatch copies of the manifesto to Modi.

He further alleged that Modi distorted the speech of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.