Lok Sabha Election 2024: Congress Calls BJP Manifesto a 'Bundle of Lies', 'Silent on Unemployment'

Congress leaders said the BJP manifesto does not talk about burning issues like joblessness and price rise and attempts to shift goalposts over promises made in the past 10 years. The grand old party claimed that it incorporated thousands of suggestions from the public, taking three months to draft its poll manifesto while the BJP drafted its manifesto in just 13 days treating it like a 'copy and paste' job.

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday slammed the BJP’s 2024 Lok Sabha polls manifesto saying it was a “bundle of lies” and charged the ruling party of shifting the goal posts over failed promises. The grand old party recalled how in its 2014 manifesto also, the BJP had made many false promises like the one relating to black money and eventually they brought electoral bonds in its place.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge dismissed the BJP manifesto as full of false promises, trashing PM Modi's guarantee for his 'failure' to fulfil promises he made in the past. Kharge said that the Modi government has not done anything for the youth and farmers till now which has forced the young generation to come on to the roads protesting for jobs. The BJP regime has caused joblessness and price rise in the past two terms, he said.

On the other hand, TS Singh Deo, a member of the Congress Manifesto Committee, said that their party took three months to draft its poll manifesto after incorporating thousands of suggestions received from different sections of the public, the BJP manifesto was drafted in mere 13 days and looked like a 'copy and paste' job.

“Our manifesto provides a roadmap to address two biggest problems being faced by the people, unemployment and price rise. The BJP’s manifesto is silent on these issues,” Singh Deo told ETV Bharat.

“It seems like they got a list from somewhere and just copied and pasted it. The people expect to hear from the government what it plans to do to resolve the two biggest problems. It looks like a bundle of lies,” he said.

The Congress veteran wondered what happened to the promises made by the BJP over the past 10 years like Rs 15 lakh in every account, 2 crore jobs per year, doubling of the farmers’ income by 2022, cleaning of River Ganga by 2020, houses for all poor by 2022, 100 new smart cities, and $5 trillion economy by 2022.

“The entire focus is now being shifted to what will happen in 2047 but there is no mention of the promises not kept since 2014. An elected government usually lists its achievements over the past five years and presents a roadmap for the next five years while releasing a poll manifesto. This is nothing but shifting of the goalposts,” said Singh Deo.

According to AICC functionary BM Sandeep Kumar, the BJP claimed that India will become a developed country by 2047 but for that to happen the country’s economy needs to grow at over 8 percent.

“Despite tall claims we have seen that over the past 10 years the economy grew only by 5.9 percent. This was lower than the 6.7 percent growth achieved during 10 years of UPA government from 2004 to 2014. How will India become a developed country by 2047 then,” Sandeep Kumar told ETV Bharat.

According to AICC functionary Ashish Dua, the BJP’s focus on ‘one nation, one election’ and Uniform Civil Code were mere slogans and attempts to distract public attention from the pressing bread and butter issues.

“They are not able to hold the ensuing national elections in one phase. Several big states will have polls in multiple phases. How will they manage state and national elections all across the country together? The one nation, one election, and UCC issues are just to deflect public attention from issues of joblessness and high prices of essential items,” Dua told ETV Bharat.

According to Dua, while China had taken over huge chunks of India’s land at the border, the country was yet to see the promised strong response from the BJP.

“We were told China would be threatened with red eyes but instead they took control over our land and have denied patrolling rights to our forces at several points in Ladakh. The LAC row continues from 2020 in eastern Ladakh. China continues to provoke us by renaming areas in Arunachal Pradesh but nothing has happened in response,” Dua added.

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