Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought time from him to explain in person the party’s “Nyay Patra”. In his two-page letter, he told the Prime Minister that he is being misinformed by his advisors about things that are not even written in the “Nyay Patra”-- the Congress manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections.
The letter comes after the prime minister attacked the Congress over its manifesto, alleging that the party aims to “redistribute the wealth” of people and give it away to “infiltrators”. Modi also accused the Congress of snatching women’s “mangalsutra”.
In his letter, Kharge said the Congress’ ‘Nyay Patra’ aims at providing “nyay (justice)” to the youngsters, women, farmers, labourers and marginalised people across all castes and communities. “It has become your habit to seize on a few words taken out of context and create a communal divide. You are lowering the dignity of the chair by speaking in this manner. 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 Prime Minister of the country, you don’t make any statements that are false,” he added.
The Congress chief also said he is neither shocked nor surprised by the language used by the prime minister in his recent speeches. “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 the letter.
The Congress has been talking about the deprived poor and their rights (“nyay”), he said and added, “We are aware that you and your government do not have any concern for the poor and dispossessed.”
“Your ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ works for the corporates whose taxes you reduced while the salaried class pays higher taxes. The poor pay GST even on food and salt and the rich corporate claim GST refunds. That is why, when we talk of inequality between the rich and the poor, you are purposely equating it with Hindu and Muslim,” Kharge claimed.
