The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, making a plethora of promises on construction of Ram temple, farmers’ income and Article 370 of the Constitution.
Soon after, Congress said the ruling party had “simply copy pasted” its 2014 poll document and changed all previous deadlines.
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said the BJP should have come out with a ‘maafinama’ (letter of apology) instead of a manifesto.
Patel said the difference between the BJP’s manifesto and that of the Congress can be seen from the cover page itself.
“Our’s has a crowd of people, and BJP manifesto has the face of just one man. Instead of a manifesto BJP should have come out with a ‘maafinama,’” the Congress Rajya Sabha MP said.
In its manifesto, the BJP “reiterated its stand” and said that they “will explore all possibilities within the framework of the Constitution and all necessary efforts to facilitate the expeditious construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.”
The mention of the Ram Mandir in the BJP manifesto is no surprise, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said, alleging that the saffron party has been using it for the last 30 years in a bid to “sharpen communal polarisation.”
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“Their only target is to consolidate the Hindutva communal vote bank. But this time that is not going to happen,” he claimed.
The CPI(M) general secretary further said the ruling party’s manifesto was a “fresh set of jumlas” which have been “unleashed” upon India.
“But the people will never forget the disaster that this Modi government unleashed on their lives and livelihoods in the past five years. No fresh set of tamasha can hide the truth,” he said.
BJP also reiterated its position to the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The party also resolved to annul Article 35A of the Constitution, which bars people from outside to own property in Jammu and Kashmir.
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution will pave way for “freedom” for people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“They talk of abrogating Article 370. If you do that, the accession will also not stand. I swear by Allah, I think this is the wish of Almighty, we will get freedom from them,” Abdullah, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Srinagar constituency, said at an election rally.
The former chief minister said there would not be anyone to hoist the national flag in Kashmir if Article 370 is abrogated.
“Let them do it, we will see. I will see who is ready to hoist their flag here. So don’t do such things that break our hearts. Try joining the hearts, not breaking them,” he said.
BSP president Mayawati said the BJP, which had failed to fulfil the promises made in 2014, had no moral right to release a fresh manifesto. She added that the party ought to have issued an action-taken report instead.
Reacting to it, Mayawati said, “The BJP and the Narendra Modi government, which blatantly betrayed the people and failed to fulfil the election promises, have no moral right to release a new manifesto.”
“People cannot believe them and they should tender an apology to the people as they have only worked for the capitalists,” the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president said.
(With PTI inputs)