Chandigarh: Asking the people of Haryana not to fall for BJP's poll promises, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an expert in telling lies and the BJP has failed to fulfil commitments made to voters in the past.
At an election rally at Badhra in Haryana's Charkhi Dadri, Kharge targeted the BJP over several issues, including demands for debt waiver and legal guarantee on MSP from farmers, and claimed people have made up their minds to bring the Congress to power in the state, which goes to polls on Saturday.
"It is Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri's birth anniversary today. Mahatma Gandhi taught us truth and non-violence. I don't want to say this - how much truth and how much lies those in power speak," he said. "Modi ji toh bharosa todne walo ka bhi sardar hai (Modi is the leader of those who break trust.) His numerous lies, promises, you know about them," he said in the presence of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik.
Referring to Congress' poll promises in Haryana, Kharge said the party has given seven guarantees in its manifesto including Rs 2,000 per month for women and told Hooda, who was standing behind him, "You will have to keep my honour". Congress has not named its chief ministerial candidate, but Hooda is a frontrunner for the post.
Invoking Lal Bahadur Shastri's "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" slogan, he said the BJP doesn't "know about jawans or kisans". "They only know the RSS' agenda. No one is a farmer in the RSS or BJP. This is why they don't understand the pain of the farmers. They help people like Adani-Ambani and not farmers. They don't give MSP guarantee, but Modi waives Rs 16 lakh crore debt of the rich," he said and also criticised the Agnipath military recruitment scheme. Keep such people at bay, Kharge said.
The Congress president also fired a fresh salvo at the BJP after his "will not die till Modi is ousted" remarks. "I had gone to Jammu and Kashmir and felt dizzy for a while. There I said till the time we oust the BJP from power, till that time I won't breathe my last. But they played it up so much, they taunted me by saying may he live for 125 years and see 'Viksit Bharat'," he said.
"Pehle to ye dekho, aapke log dekhne ke liye zinda rahege ya nahi rahege, wahan toh Congress aake baithne wali hai" (first, you see whether your people will be alive or not to see it, The Congress is about to sit in power)," he said. Kharge said Prime Minister Modi made so many promises during the past ten years including "putting Rs 15 lakh in everyone's bank account and giving two crore jobs to youth each year, but everyone knows the fate of these promises".
The Congress president said the BJP is saying during the polls in Haryana that they will give five lakh jobs, whereas they did not fill over 1.60 lakh vacant posts. Those in power are speaking such lies, Kharge said.
"Manohar Lal Khattar was the chief minister for nine-and-a-half years, but he was changed. He was changed because that engine failed. Had their work been proper, had they kept their promises, what was the need to change. "The fact that they changed him means they have not been able to fulfil the promises they made to people," he said.
He said the BJP has been reduced to a minority and is being supported by TDP and Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) at the Centre. "Recall April 3, 2019, Chandrababu Naidu had said Modi is a terrorist. Today, they (BJP) are going with those who said so and then they are telling us Congress spreads terrorism. First, see yourself in the mirror, your allies have said this and now you are going with them.
"For the sake of power, they do everything and go with everyone," he said attacking the BJP. Kharge alleged that the BJP had copied the Congress' manifesto after his party promised Rs 2000 per month to women. "What the BJP said later after copying our manifesto, they said they will give Rs 2100 (to women). Ye kya boli hai vote k liye (is it an auction for votes)," he said.
"They are saying they will give Rs 2100... will my mothers, sisters sell their pride to BJP for a hundred rupees.., will anyone sell her pride for a hundred rupees? No, they won't."
The Congress president said the people still remember the works done during Bhupinder Singh Hooda's rule, adding his party does what it says. "That is why I keep saying this repeatedly that BJP is 'jhoothon ki sardar' and Modi is an expert in telling lies," he alleged. Kharge said the Congress leaders, who became the prime ministers always worked for the country.
During the UPA's tenure, Rs 72,000 crore debt of farmers was waived. "Who carved Haryana as a separate state, it was Indira Gandhi," he said. Haryana is number one in sports including in wrestling. "During the BJP's rule, the treatment that was meted to women wrestlers, everyone knows," he said.
"When women wrestlers were being dragged on roads, Modi ji was inaugurating the new parliament building. "Naya parliament, jo abhi tapakta hai pani say. Jaisa Ram Mandir bhi pani say tapakta hai, waisa ye bhi tapakta hai (the new Parliament has a leaking roof, same as the Ram temple," he said.
