NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he would be happy to meet him to explain the reality of the Congress Nyay Patra which, he said, is for the people of India.
The letter, which was shared by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on his social media platform X, came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked Congress over its manifesto.
Congress President Mallikarjun @kharge ji has just written to the PM saying that he would be happy to meet him to explain the reality of the #CongressNyayPatra which Mr. Modi may have missed in his persistent efforts to distort and defame it.
Here is the letter. pic.twitter.com/ESxIUc0dKr
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 25, 2024
“I am neither shocked nor surprised by your language or your speeches over the last few days. It was expected that you and other leaders from your party would start speaking in this manner after you saw the dismal performance of the BJP in the first phase of the elections”, Kharge said in his letter. The Congress has been talking about the deprived poor and their rights (Nyay), he said.
“We are aware that you and your government does not have any concern for the poor and dispossessed”, Kharge added. The Congress chief claimed that their election manifesto talks about the welfare of every section of society.
“Your ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ works for the corporates whose taxes you reduced, while salaried class pays higher taxes. The poor pay GST even on food and salt and rich corporate claim GST refunds. That is why when we talk of inequality between rich and poor, you are purposely equating it with Hindu and Muslim. Our manifesto is for the people of India whether they are Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain or Buddhist. I think you have still not forgotten your pre-independence allies, the Muslim League and Colonial Masters”, he added.
“The Congress has always served to empower the poor and you have ruled to snatch the earnings and wealth of the poor. Your government was the one who used Demonetisation as an “organised loot and legalised plunder” to transfer the money deposited by the poor in the banks to the rich in the form of loans. Then as a part of conscious design these loans were surreptitiously written off by your government. The lakhs of crores of corporate loans that your government has written off since 2014 is transfer of wealth from poor to rich. No farmer’s loan, artisans loans, MSME loan or students loans were waived off by you”, Kharge said.
On PM Modi’s mangalsutra remark, Kharge countered the PM, asking, “You and your government have repeatedly turned away from the atrocities that the poor and backward women are facing in the country. Today, you talk about their mangalsutra. Isn’t your government responsible for the atrocities against women in Manipur, atrocities against Dalit girls, garlanding of rapists? When farmers are committing suicides under your government, how are you protecting their wives and children? Please read about the Nari Nyay which we will be implementing when we come to power”, Kharge said.
“It has become a habit for you to seize on few words taken out of context and create a communal divide. You are lowering the dignity of the chair by speaking in this manner. When all of this is over, people will remember that the Prime Minister of the country used such vulgar language for fear of losing an election”, the letter said.
“Do not get carried away by your own people who are clapping at your speeches. They are not allowing you to hear the crores of right thinking citizens who are disappointed by your speeches”, he said. The Congress Nyay Patra aims at providing Nyay to the youth, women, farmers, labours and marginalised people across all castes and communities, he said.
“You are being misinformed by your advisors about things that are not even written in our manifesto. I would be more than happy to meet you in person to explain our Nyay Patra so that as the Prime Minister of the country you don’t make any statements that are false”, Kharge added. (ANI)