Congress Criticizes BJP Manifesto for Lack of Concrete Commitments

Leading the opposition against the BJP's manifesto on Sunday was the Congress, which criticized it for being heavy on "jumlas" and light on concrete commitments.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Modi ki guarantee = Jumlon ki warranty (Modi's guarantee is a warranty on rhetoric)," in response to the BJP's election slogan.

In order to emphasize that the Prime Minister's assurance is meaningless, Kharge attempted to highlight the Narendra Modi government's history of broken promises in a post on X, citing more than a dozen examples.

"Whatever became of the promise of two crore employment a year, tripling farmers' earnings, providing MSP according to the Swaminathan Commission formula, and putting Rs 15 lakh in every account?” Kharge said.

Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Congress, questioned the BJP manifesto's silence on price increases and employment, two challenges that the majority of people are facing. Rahul wrote on X, "The BJP does not want to discuss issues that are so crucial to people's well-being."

Congress spokeswoman Supriya Shinate told the reporters that "jobs" appeared only twice in the 76-page BJP manifesto during her briefing on the paper.

In addition to offering an annual stipend for apprenticeship, the Congress pledges 30 lakh government employment, whereas the BJP platform merely mentions time-bound filling of current vacancies. "So why have they been chanting about creating jobs for the last ten years while allowing these positions to remain unfilled?" she questioned.

The BJP's lack of response on the minimum support price (MSP) was intentionally exploited by the Congress, which has pledged to enact legislation addressing the matter.

After failing on this front, the BJP has now stopped talking about its 2019 campaign pledge to double farmers' income by 2022. Regarding MSP, the BJP's most recent manifesto repeatedly asserted that there had been a "unprecedented increase in MSP" over the previous ten years and pledged to periodically raise it.

The BJP's allegations about terrorism have also been criticized by the Congress. Asserting that there have been "zero major terror attacks in any city since 2014," the BJP's manifesto obscures terrorist assaults that have occurred elsewhere, such as Pulwama on the eve of the 2019 elections.

According to Srinate, during the ten years of Modi government, 3,950 persons have died in terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir alone. "Both security personnel and civilians are included in this, and yet the BJP claims to have eradicated terrorism in the nation," the speaker said.

The Congress has questioned the BJP's manifesto's omission of any mention of Manipur. The Northeast is mentioned, while Manipur is not mentioned at all.