“It is such a beautiful manifesto that the prime minister failed to find a word to criticise it. Therefore, he found a way and thought of giving a ‘jumla’ of Muslim League to confuse people,” the senior Congress leader told reporters here.
“We are ourselves surprised. Where does the Muslim League come into the picture,” Gehlot asked.
The Congress manifesto is a “historical” document and the summation of feedback from lakhs of people whom Rahul Gandhi met during his Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, and it comes a step closer to offering people social security, said Gehlot.
The Congress on Friday released its Lok Sabha poll manifesto, focusing on five “pillars of justice” and 25 guarantees under those.
The senior Congress leader was here to meet people from Rajasthan settled in Gujarat as part of the campaign for his party’s Lok Sabha candidates. All the 26 seats in Gujarat will go to polls in the third phase on May 7. The BJP clean-swept the state in 2014 and 2019. On Union minister Parshottam Rupala’s statement regarding the Rajput community which has triggered a statewide stir, Gehlot said one should not utter anything that hurts the sentiments of a community.
The Rajput or Kshatriya community has accused Rupala, the BJP’s Rajkot Lok Sabha seat candidate, of making objectionable remarks on erstwhile rulers of princely states.
“Why should you make caste-specific and religion-specific comments,” he asked.
Attacking the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Gehlot claimed that democracy is in danger and central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax (I-T) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are being misused for power.
He said that the United Nations has criticised the freezing of Congress’ accounts.
“Constitutionally elected chief ministers Hemant Soren and Arvind Kejriwal have been put behind bars, which could have been done after the elections,” he said.
Elections are a period when the public decides whom to hand over the power and there should be a level-playing field, Gehlot said.
He said that the Election Commission has failed to act and the popularity of the Modi government has waned, claiming that it will result in people supporting the opposition INDIA bloc.
On the electoral bond issue, Gehlot called it the “biggest scam” which could have forced even America’s president to resign had it come to light there. “Where is transparency?… People should worry about the direction in which the country is going,” he added.
