As NDA govt completes 4 years, Congress poses 40 questions on issues of rural distress, jobs

Releasing a booklet titled “Betrayal”, the Congress said the agriculture sector remained stressed during the past four years as farmers did not receive the minimum support price for their produce.

The Congress on Saturday termed the four years of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government as a “period of treachery, trickery, revenge and lies” and said the people now know that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah were “harmful” to the country.

Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala and other leaders release a booklet questioning the Narendra Modi government’s four years in office, during a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday.(Sushil Kumar/HT Photo)

The principal opposition party also released a booklet titled “India Betrayed” on the completion of four years of the NDA government. It was on May 26 four years ago that Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister, replacing Manmohan Singh who remained at the helm for 10 years from 2004 to 2014.

In the booklet released in English and Hindi, the Congress has asked 40 questions to the Prime Minister on issues such as agriculture and rural distress, farmers’ suicides, “growing” unemployment, the alleged Punjab National Bank scam, Rafale aircraft deal, allegations of corruption against senior BJP leaders and rising fuel prices.

Addressing a news conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot and Randeep Singh Surjewala said an “atmosphere of fear and hatred had been created” under the NDA regime. Referring to alleged atrocities on Dalits, tribals, minorities and women, Azad alleged, “Nobody is safe in India under the BJP government. Everyone is getting sleepless nights.”

“Modi and Shah should have shared the formula of converting ₹50,000 into ₹80 crore. This is called khaane nahi denge, par khud khayenge,” said Azad, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

The Congress observed the fourth anniversary of the NDA government as “Vishwasghat Diwas (betrayal day)”. Apart from holding demonstrations across the country, party leaders also held news conferences in 20 different cities. “These four years can be defined in four terms — treachery, trickery, revenge and lies. Hence, India Betrayed,” Surjewala told reporters. Surjewala, who is the Congress party’s chief spokesperson, alleged that the government has incurred ₹4600 crore on “insurmountable” advertisements. “Modi is on a perpetual campaign but refuses to understand people’s pain. In these four years, he accumulated publicity but India only accumulated pain,” he said.

“Modi ji would have been successful if the country could be run on jumlas and speeches. There is a huge difference between his words and action.”

For his part, Gehlot said that “an atmosphere of fear, hatred and violence was created” in the past four years of the Modi government. “No other prime minister has ever reduced the dignity of the post like Modi ji,” he alleged. The Congress leaders said the BJP should officially name itself as the “Betrayal Janata Party”.

As Congress went hard at the BJP leaders, Shah said under the UPA government, scams worth ₹12 lakh crores made headlines while during the Modi dispensation, development works have done so. The BJP chief also took a dig at the Congress, saying that those who imposed the Emergency, imprisoned more than a lakh people and silenced the media are now talking of an atmosphere of fear and the freedom of media.

On the occasion, the Congress also released and showed a short film on the present situation in the country.

(With PTI inputs)