Modi says Congress did not fulfil its poll guarantees in States where it came to power, while Kharge questions PM’s promise of acchhe din and two crore jobs every year
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday hit out at the Congress stating that the party was now realising the hard way that making “unreal” promises during election campaigns was easy but implementing them properly was tough or impossible.
The statement came following an advice by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to its State units to make only those promises that were financially viable. “Campaign after campaign they promise things to the people, which they also know they will never be able to deliver. Now, they stand badly exposed in front of the people! FakePromisesOfCongress,” Mr. Modi said in a series of posts on X.
“Check any State where the Congress has governments today – Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana – the developmental trajectory and fiscal health is turning from bad to worse. Their so-called guarantees lie unfulfilled, which is a terrible deceit upon the people of these States,” the Prime Minister said.
Salaries & loan waiver
Stating that the victims of such politics were the poor, youngsters, farmers, and women, who were not only denied the benefits of those promises but also saw their existing schemes being diluted, he said, “In Karnataka, the Congress is busier in intra-party politics and loot instead of even bothering to deliver on development. Not only that, they are also going to rollback existing schemes.”
“In Himachal Pradesh, salaries of government workers are not paid on time. In Telangana, farmers are waiting for the waiver they promised. Previously, in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan they promised certain allowances, which were never implemented for five years. There are numerous such examples of how the Congress works,” Mr. Modi said.
The Prime Minister said people should be “vigilant against the Congress-sponsored culture of fake promises”. “We saw recently how the people of Haryana rejected their lies and preferred a government that is stable, progress-oriented and action-driven. There is a growing realisation across India that a vote for Congress is a vote for non-governance, poor economics, and unparalleled loot. The people of India want development and progress, not the same old…,” he said.
At a press conference, BJP MP and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad earlier referred to Mr. Kharge’s remarks to say that the Congress chief had now realised that announcements should not be made without proper financial/budgetary provisions. “Now the question arises whether he has passed this lesson on to their leader Rahul Gandhi or not,” Mr. Prasad said.
“A new term ‘khata–khat [swift]’ was introduced by Mr. Gandhi. This khata–khat has been going on for many elections, but he is known for making announcements and then moving on,” he said. The BJP leader said Mr. Gandhi had made several promises in Himachal Pradesh, where now the situation was such that the Chief Minister was telling Ministers and legislators to stop taking salaries. The state of affairs was similar in Karnataka and Telangana, he said.
“We proudly declare that if we have promised ₹6,000 annually to 11 crore farmers, then the PM presses a button and the money reaches their accounts. If we provide 80 crore people with five kg of wheat and rice, it reaches them too. When we spoke of Digital India, it became a reality on the ground. The same goes for digital payments,” he said.
He sought an apology from Mr. Kharge and Mr. Gandhi for the “false” announcements made in Telangana, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh.
“The BJP would like to convey to the voters of Maharashtra and Jharkhand that the Congress members should refrain from making baseless announcements. Do clarify where these promises are coming from,” the BJP leader said.
‘Unparalleled track record’
The Prime Minister’s comments triggered a volley of reactions from senior Congress leaders, including Mr. Kharge.
Questioning Mr. Modi’s promise of creating two crore jobs every year and acchhe din, Mr. Kharge said in a post on X,”Lies, Deceit, Fakery, Loot & Publicity are the 5 adjectives which best describe your Govt!”
“The ‘B’ in BJP stands for Betrayal, while the ‘J’ stands for JUMLA [empty promise]! Setting the record straight…,”he added.
His colleague and party general secretary K.C. Venugopal told the media, “We are implementing our promises; that is the model of the Congress. In Karnataka, whatever we promised we are implementing, anybody can examine it. The Prime Minister’s statement is plainly wrong.”
In a X post, he added: “The uncrowned champion of puffery, misdirection and unfulfilled promises has the audacity to question the Congress’ unparalleled track record of delivering welfare”.
In a separate X post, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu listed out his government’s achievements such as reinstatement of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for State government employees, a monthly allowance of ₹1,500 for eligible women, English-medium schools from Class 1 and a start-up fund of ₹680 crore.
“We are proud to have already delivered on five out of the 10 guarantees made during the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections,” Mr. Sukhu said.
