The Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of speaking in a "poisonous language" on April 22 and said that he has several new tactics for diverting attention from real issues.
On April 21, the party hit out at Mr. Modi over his "redistribution of wealth" remarks targeting the party, saying after facing "disappointment" in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, the prime minister has now resorted to "lies" and "hate speech" to divert people from the real issues.
Also read: Congress will hand private wealth to Muslims: PM Modi
Sharing a Congress advertisement on rising prices and unemployment in India on social media platform X, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said, "Unemployment and inflation are at their peak in the country and Narendra Modi says 'everything is fine'." "He (Modi) has several new techniques to 'divert from the issues', But the end of the business of lies is near," he added.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also stepped up his attack on the prime minister. "The Prime Minister speaks in a poisonous language on a whole lot of issues. He should also answer a simple question - Since 1951, census has been conducted every ten years. This reveals the actual data of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe population. This should have been done in 2021 but has not been done till date. Why is the Prime Minister silent on this?" he said. This is a conspiracy to destroy the Constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar, he alleged.
The Congress stepped up its attack on the prime minister after he suggested that if the Congress came to power, it would redistribute the wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources.
Opposition parties demand action
In a post on X, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said while the prime minister’s remarks are atrocious, the silence of the Election Commission is worse. “This is atrocious! The silence of the Election Commission is more atrocious!! Modi’s inflammatory speech is a gross violation of the Model Code of Conduct and Supreme Court pronouncements on Hate Speech,” he said, adding that the remarks merit strictest action. “Hope the Supreme Court takes suo motu cognisance of this incendiary speech and issues Modi a contempt of Court notice followed by strictest punishment,” he said.
Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale also appealed to the people to write to the Election Commission over Mr. Modi’s remarks. In a post on X, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP shared the email id of the Chief Election Commissioner, and urged people to write to him, stating that the poll panel does not listen to the Opposition. “Election Commission ignores the Opposition and has kept giving a free pass to Modi and the BJP. During elections, the EC is not accountable to political parties. But - they’re accountable to the people of India,” Gokhale said.
He urged at least a thousand “responsible Indian citizens” to email the CEC demanding strict action against Modi for his remarks.
Addressing a rally in Rajasthan's Banswara, Mr. Modi alleged the Congress plans to give people's hard-earned money and valuables to "infiltrators" and "those who have more children".
