PM quotes Manmohan Singh to target Congress; party counter-checks claims

BANSWARA/NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election speech in Rajasthan’s Banswara has sparked controversy due to his remarks about Muslims. Leaders from the Congress have criticised the speech, accusing Modi of attempting to deflect attention from “real issues.”

Modi on Sunday said the Congress, if elected to power at the Centre, would distribute people’s property, land and gold among Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh’s remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country’s resources.

“The Congress has already declared that Muslims have the first right to the country’s resources,’’ Modi said while addressing an election meeting in Rajasthan’s Banswara district.

Modi said the Congress had announced that it would conduct a survey to find out the property of individuals, gold owned by women, silver mostly owned by tribal families, and land and cash belonging to government employees and others, and redistribute it.

“Can you tolerate the government snatching your hard earned money and property?’’ he asked.

“This urban-naxal mindset, my mothers and sisters, they will not even leave your ‘Mangalsutra’. They can go to that level,” Modi said.

Modi addressed public meetings in support of BJP candidates in Jalore and Banswara constituencies, both of which will go to the polls in the second phase on April 26.

Reacting angrily to PM Modi’s claims at the rally in Rajasthan, Congress leader Pawan Khera accused the PM of “lying”. “We challenge the Prime Minister to show if Hindu-Muslim is written anywhere in our manifesto. This kind of shallow mindset is in your political values,” Khera said.

“We have talked about justice for youth, women, farmers, tribals, middle class and workers. Do you have any objection to this also?” he said, slamming the PM.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that after facing “disappointment” in the first phase of voting, “the level of lies of Narendra Modi has fallen so much that he now wants to divert the people from the issues as he is rattled”.

The trends of immense support for Congress’ “revolutionary manifesto” have started emerging, Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

“The country will now vote on its issues, vote for its employment, its family and its future. India will not be diverted,” the former Congress chief said. While the Congress manifesto delves into the issue of economic inequalities, the party has asserted that it does not talk about “redistribution” and that it favours a “comprehensive socio-economic caste census”.

The opposition party had also asserted that Rahul Gandhi did not promise redistribution of the nation’s wealth in Hyderabad on 7 April 2024 and that his words were “misrepresented”. The clarification from Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh came after Rahul Gandhi had reportedly talked about the need to conduct a survey for a more equitable distribution of the country’s wealth.

On Sunday, Modi alleged that the Congress is now trapped “in the clutches of the Leftists” and its manifesto “is worrying and serious” as it is an attempt to implement the “ideology of Maoism on the ground”. 

“It says that if a Congress government is formed, everyone’s property will be surveyed, the amount of gold our sisters have will be investigated and calculated. our tribal families have silver, which will be calculated... This gold and other assets will be distributed equally to everyone.

“Is it acceptable to you? Do governments have the right to confiscate your property which you have earned through hard work? The gold with our mothers and sisters is not for showing off, it is related to their self-respect.

“The value of their ‘Mangalsutra’ is not in gold or its price but it is related to her dreams in life and you are talking about snatching it,” Modi said.

The prime minister alleged that the Congress has come under the control of “urban Naxals”. He also accused the Congress of ignoring the welfare of tribals and said the party could not find a single person from the Adivasi community who could be the President of the country during its 60-year rule.

He said that the BJP is committed towards the welfare of the poor and works honestly, but the Congress sells “fear, hunger and corruption in its shop”.

He said that the Congress has always instilled fears among the Dalits, tribals and minorities and is now spreading lies about democracy, the Constitution and reservation to scare them. with agency inputs