Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Congress responded sharply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s accusation that the party’s manifesto bore a Muslim League imprint, accusing the BJP of practising divisive politics. At an election rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur, PM Modi said earlier today, “Yesterday the kind of manifesto released by Congress reflects the same thinking that was prevalent in the Muslim League at the time of independence. The Congress manifesto completely bears the imprint of the Muslim League and the remaining part of the manifesto is dominated by the leftists”.
In a retort to Modi’s remarks, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh pointed out historical inaccuracies in the Prime Minister’s statement. Ramesh highlighted that it was Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Jan Sangh and president of the Hindu Mahasabha at the time, who was part of a coalition government in Bengal with the Muslim League during the early 1940s. He further noted similar coalitions between the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League in Sindh and North-West Frontier Province.
ALSO READ | Congress Manifesto Has Echoes Of Muslim League, ‘Bharat Ke Tukde’ Mindset: PM Modi
“The prime minister does not know his history as it was, in fact, none other than Mookerjee, the president of the Hindu Mahasabha then, who was himself part of the coalition government in Bengal with the Muslim League. The Hindu Mahasabha was also in coalition with the Muslim League in Sindh and North-West Frontier Province. It is the BJP, not the Congress, that believes in and practices the politics of divisiveness,” Ramesh said.
#CongressNyayPatra को लेकर प्रधानमंत्री की दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण टिप्पणियों पर मेरा बयान।
न्याय पत्र का केंद्रबिंदु पांच न्याय है : युवा न्याय, नारी न्याय, किसान न्याय, श्रमिक न्याय और हिस्सेदारी न्याय।
प्रधानमंत्री ने आज अपना स्टैंड साफ़ कर दिया है: न्याय और अन्याय के बीच लड़ाई में… pic.twitter.com/IWM5ZqrHHo
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 6, 2024
Ramesh refuted Modi’s claims and accused the BJP of promoting divisiveness in Indian politics. He emphasised that it was the BJP, not the Congress, that embraced and perpetuated the politics of division.
Speaking to news agency ANI, the senior Congress leader also remarked, “Syama Prasad Mukherjee made an agreement with Jinnah’s Muslim League. Congress had never made an agreement…Lal Krishna Advani & Jaswant Singh went to Pakistan and praised Jinnah… No Congress leader did so…”
#WATCH | Congress MP Jairam Ramesh says, “Syama Prasad Mukherjee made an agreement with Jinnah’s Muslim League. Congress had never made an agreement…Lal Krishna Advani & Jaswant Singh went to Pakistan and praised Jinnah…No Congress leader did so…” pic.twitter.com/puPymvKzfQ
— ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2024
Congress Manifesto For Lok Sabha Election 2024
The Prime Minister’s attack on the Congress came the day after the party released its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The manifesto, unveiled at the party headquarters in the presence of Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi, highlighted five pillars of justice and 25 guarantees. Among the promises made by the Congress were rights to apprenticeship, legal guarantees for Minimum Support Price (MSP), a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), a nationwide caste census, and the scrapping of the Agnipath scheme.
