New Delhi, May 18 (The Telegraph): The Congress today launched the first of its "anniversary series" on the Narendra Modi government, panning the Prime Minister for playing with people's faith.
Rahul Gandhi set the tone in the morning, saying in Amethi that the people and the farmers would give this government zero marks even though a few industrialist friends of the Prime Minister would give him 10 out of 10. The Congress said the government neither did anything for the industry nor the poor.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: "The government is playing with people's faith - with hope and expectations. Don't make false promises, they are worse than lies. Don't fool people. The true colour of the government is exposed in all textures. They delivered nothing and ran a regressive, divisive, incendiary government. Never before have ministers and MPs made such provocative statements to make Indians feel unsafe in their own country."
Promising sector-wise briefing to expose the "truth" of the government in the coming days, Singhvi said: "If we use cricket analogy, the Modi government is playing T20 in terms of promises. Lots of fours and sixes, very exciting show. In terms of announcements of schemes and proposals too, it is playing one-day, limited-overs cricket. But in terms of delivery, it is an abandoned Test match."
Contending that the government had failed in every field - be it job creation, health, agriculture, core industries, and even its pet project of cleaning the Ganga - the Congress spokesperson said: "It never happened that international crude oil prices slumped southwards and our domestic petroleum prices went northwards. Instead of passing on the comfort to the consumers, the government resorted to profiteering and gained Rs 80,000 crore by raising excise duty four times."
The Congress also decided the schedule of senior leaders, including general secretaries, former Union ministers and spokespersons, who will tour the entire country to brief the media on the first year of the Modi government.
One general secretary, Shakeel Ahmed, who is part of the Congress blitzkrieg, said: "No government in the past made so much noise about promises and delivered so little. This is an astonishing story of hype and failure. What is the worse, Modi has become a disgrace because of his behaviour on foreign tours."
Ahmed said: "He is the first Prime Minister to abuse Indians, India and previous regimes on foreign soil. He knows nothing about governance, statecraft and international diplomacy. How can you use phrases like scam India while speaking in a foreign country? And now he crossed all the limits during his China visit, saying people used to think what sin they committed to have been born in India. Gautam Buddha, Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru were sinners? Lord Shiva and Lord Ram were sinners? He has not even spared Gods."
Singhvi said Modi promised to generate 25 million jobs every year and clean the Ganga in one year. "Where are the jobs? And the Supreme Court said the Ganga will be cleaned in 200 years at this speed. The core industries show negative growth; export is down by 2 per cent and imports by 5 per cent. The stock market lost Rs 2 lakh crore. Agriculture grew at four per cent during our time and now it is one per cent while the suicide rate is at its peak. Are these signs of achchhe din?"
