Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge
– Photo: PTI
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There are only a few days left for voting for the assembly elections in Maharashtra. Political parties are busy campaigning with full force. In the state, leaders of Mahavikas Aghadi and Mahayuti are fiercely targeting each other. On Wednesday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological guide Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of having no role in the freedom struggle and unity of the country.
Mallikarjun Kharge launched a scathing attack on the ruling party and criticized the slogans ‘If we divide we will be cut’ and ‘If we are together we will be safe’. Kharge termed the BJP-led Mahayuti government as a government of thieves and called for its defeat in the elections. He targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had raised questions on Congress leaders waving the Constitution book. Congress president Kharge said the caste census, which the Congress had promised in its election manifesto, was aimed at promoting unity and equitable distribution of benefits to all sections. He said, caste census is not to divide people.
‘BJP and RSS have no contribution in the freedom movement’
Taking aim at slogans like ‘if we divide we will be cut’ and ‘if we are united we will be safe’, Kharge said that Congress leaders sacrificed their lives to keep the country and all communities united. On the contrary, BJP and RSS had no contribution in the freedom movement and unity of the country. Kharge said that Mahayuti is a government of thieves. Assembly elections are an opportunity to teach a lesson to traitors.
Kharge targeted the National Democratic Alliance government in Maharashtra, raising issues ranging from farmer suicides to wealth consolidation. He said, seven farmers commit suicide every day in Maharashtra. 62 percent of India’s wealth is concentrated in the lands of five percent of the population. Fifty percent of the poor own only three percent of the wealth. This is the government of Modi, (Devendra) Fadnavis, (Chief Minister) Eknath Shinde and (Deputy Chief Minister) Ajit Pawar.
BJP only made false promises-Kharge
Kharge said Modi should speak about his performance and work ideology and avoid spreading lies. Modi lied about depositing Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts of common people (after bringing back black money stashed in foreign banks before the 2014 elections) and creating 2 crore jobs every year, the Congress president said. He counted the Right to Education Act, MNREGA and the Right to Food Act as achievements of the Congress governments. Kharge said the BJP only made false promises, while Congress governments had worked to set up factories.
‘Guaranteeing the security of a copy of the Constitution’
Holding a copy of the Constitution in his hand at the rally, Kharge said, only Ambedkar’s Constitution guarantees security to all sections of the society. Modi says that Congress is showing a blank copy of the Constitution. Is it empty? Kharge said, Modi says that the red color of the Constitution reference book is a symbol of Naxalism and calls the opposition urban Naxalites. Modi had given the same copy (of the Constitution) to the then President Ramnath Kovind. Should we call them urban Naxalites?