PM Modi Accuses Congress of Following Muslim League's Divisive Agenda in Maharashtra Rally

At a Maharashtra election rally on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi compared the Congress to a "bitter gourd" and accused the party of crafting an electoral agenda that was influenced by the "divisive" Muslim League.

There is a proverb in Marathi that states bitter gourd will always taste bitter, regardless of whether it is fried in ghee or combined with sugar. This also applies to Congress. At the Chandrapur election rally in Maharashtra, Modi stated, "The Congress has openly started the game of divide and rule because the party has lost support because of its misdeeds."

The manifesto released by the Congress contains the rhetoric of the Muslim League. He remarked, "Their MPs are threatening to separate south India and talking about another partition of India."

J.P. Nadda, the head of the BJP, repeated Modi's assertion that the Congress is "working against the majority community and pursuing appeasement politics." He promised to raise the 50% reservation maximum, but he wanted to know from the party who it would help.

The Muslim League accusation is the latest arrow in the ruling party's quiver, meant to portray the main rival as "anti-national." The BJP has been taking potshots at the Congress and the INDIA alliance, labelling the opposition parties "anti-Sanatan Dharma" on numerous occasions.

In all of his election rallies, the Prime Minister has been repeating the Muslim League's criticism of the Congress without elaborating on what specific provision of the Congress's program gave rise to this remark. But Nadda tried to cast doubt on the party's intentions by manipulating the argument that the Congress manifesto's 50% reservation cap was violated.

"In 1929, the Muslim League advocated for religiously based reservations, and now, in their quest for power, the Congress is following suit. Who will profit from the current method of requesting reservations for minorities in the guise of religion, and why should we demand that reservations be increased beyond fifty percent? Nadda enquired in a statement, hoping the Congress might provide more information.

However, as Nadda has said, the Congress manifesto has no mention of the party's pledge for religiously based reservations.

The Congress promised in its manifesto to "strengthen the agenda of affirmative action" by conducting a nationwide socio-economic and caste census and "guaranteeing that it will pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50% cap on reservations for SC, ST, and OBC," with no mention of reservations for Muslims.

At rallies on Monday in Chandrapur, Maharashtra, and Bastar, Chhattisgarh, Modi took a strong stance against the Congress, accusing it of being the cause of all of the nation's issues.

"Every issue facing the nation stems from the Congress. Who was in charge of the country's religious division—the Naxals, or the Kashmir issue? Who denied the existence of Lord Ram and opposed the construction of a Ram temple? He questioned the Chandrapur crowd, "Who turned down the invitation to the Ram temple (inauguration)?

He went on to say that there was "stability and instability" in this election.

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