New Delhi: New Delhi: During his first campaign in Manipur ahead of the assembly elections, Prime Minister Modi said that the work done by BJP's double engine government has laid the foundation for the development of Manipur over the next 25 years. Responding to that on Tuesday, Congress said that his claims were nothing but "blatant lies". In a series of tweets, Jairam Ramesh, Congress' senior advisor for Manipur pointed out the 'six lies' told by PM in his speech.
"In Imphal today, the Jagadguru of Jhoot was true to his nature," said Jairam Ramesh, talking about PM Modi's claims on vaccination coverage. The Congress leader said that Manipur is one of the worst in the country and that only 47.6% of the eligible population in the State have received double dose of COVID vaccine. PM claimed balanced development in Manipur and taking administration to each and every person. However, the truth is BJP government has effectively shut the doors of the Autonomous District Councils by not holding elections in the last 5 years, said Jairam, calling it "murder of democracy in the hills and the grassroots."
Responding to PM's claim that Manipur's power sector performed poorly under the Congress government, Ramesh argued that a national award was given to the Congress in 2015-16 for power sector reforms.
On PM's claim that Palm Oil plantations will benefit Manipur’s farmers, the Congress leader claimed that in reality, profits are being transferred only to 2-3 big palm oil companies. He further added, "PM made tall claims on bringing railways to Manipur. Truth is Congress govt completed >than 70% of the project by 2017".
READ: BJP govt has laid foundation for Manipur's future development: PM Modi
He also questioned PM's silence on fundamental issues of Manipur including AFSPA, MSP and irrigation for farmers, rising unemployment among youngsters, rise in price of essential commodities in Manipur, which is much above the national average, and rising drug trade from across the border.
During his speech, PM had launched a scathing attack on Congress party and said that the grand old party had made bandhs and blockades the main feature of Manipur. Manipur Congress in-charge Bhakta Charan Das slammed PM Modi over it. While speaking to ETV Bharat, he said, "Today he visited and there was a bandh by local people. He just wants to blame Congress for that. Generally, during a Bandh, a lot of people go to attend public meetings, but today people did not turn out. It is half of how many people turned up to our rally. The size of the ground was also 1/3rd of the one where we did a rally."
Replying to PM's claim that northeast region is the growth engine of India, Das said, "Growth engine is the manpower. In Manipur, they had assured the youngsters during the last elections, that every year they'll employ 1.5 lakh people. So, in 5 years, this count should reach 7.5 lakhs, which clearly didn't happen. There PM Modi had promised 2 crore employment and here Birendra Singh promised 7.5 lakhs jobs but nothing is being done. This is the saddest truth."
He also mentioned issues including the absence of irrigation system, no MSP guarantee to people in Manipur and blamed the BJP for putting weapons in people's hands.
"Congress has shown a path of development. Meanwhile, during the rule of BJP Government, youngsters of Manipur had to roam around in different parts of the country to seek jobs. Does PM Modi knows anything about it?" he asked.
