Modi govt has empty promises to show: Congress

Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday over the completion of two years of the Modi government. (Photo: PTI)

Tearing into Modi government’s performance, the Congress on Thursday dubbed it as “fraudulently dynamic” and wondered why it was holding celebrations on its second anniversary when it has nothing to show but “empty promises and gimmicks”.

Fielding a battery of senior leaders, the main Opposition party dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a public debate over the issues, maintaining that his government was “surviving because of newspapers and news channels.”

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress leader in LS Mallikarjun Kharge, former Union minister Kapil Sibal as also party’s chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala targeted the Prime Minister over a variety of issues, including handling of economy, employment and foreign policy.

They claimed that what the country had witnessed in the last two years was just “empty promises and gimmicks” and dubbed the Narendra Modi government as “most disappointing” ruling dispensation since independence.

“Modi government is not visible on the ground... It is surviving because of newspapers and news channels the government has been thriving on advertisements,” Mr Azad said taking a dig at the Prime Minister and his way of functioning at a time when it has unleashed a publicity blitzkrieg on its “achievements”.

Mr Sibal raised questions as to who is driving the foreign policy of India, whether it was the Prime Minister, the foreign secretary, the foreign minister or the national security adviser.

Mr Azad said that government’s foreign policy has been “consistently inconsistent,” vis-à-vis China and Pakistan while Mr Sibal recalled how the two neighbouring countries have together acted against New Delhi’s interests.

Mr Azad also said there is a “non-existent Naga accord.”

He said that while there is a major agricultural distress, the government has done nothing to help the farmers. Mr Sibal alleged that the Prime Minister toured various countries of the world, but did not reach out to the farmers.

The Modi government was “fraudulently dynamic and dynamically fraudulent”, he said.

Mr Sibal said that a survey in Varanasi, Prime Minister’s home constituency, showed that 51 per cent women were not happy with his working.

In a power point presentation, the party took a jibe at’Achche Din’ (good days) slogan of Modi in the run up to 2014 Lok Sabha polls, saying people of India fell for Modi’s “web of deceit” woven around development and now waiting for three more years to put behind the ‘Bure Din’(bad days) of the Modi regime behind.

It said that people who gave Mr Modi a sweeping mandate in 2014 are “bewildered and confused” as job growth, industrial output and exports are all plunging.Noting that drought, rural distress and Government’s “apathy” were severely affecting farmers, it accused the Prime Minister of “stabbing” the farmers by zero increase in Minimum Support Price.

The party said that price rise was hitting the kitchen budget and cited sharp hike in price of pulses.

Dubbing as an “abject flop” the Prime Minister’s pet ‘Make in India’ programme, Congress said, “Babbar Sher (the lion logo of Make In India) has been mewing.”On the foreign policy front, the party said Mr Modi’s “self-centric” attempts at foreign diplomacy have “failed miserably”.

“Democracy has been shamelessly subverted. No cooperative federalism is left,” it said alluding to recent happenings in Congress-ruled Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

In the backdrop of some senior ministers having called Modi “God’s gift to India”, Mr Surjewala said “Modi stuti (praising Modi) has become the conduct and character of this government.

“One compares him to God and the other to messiah. We ask Modi to get down from the height of arrogance.”

Mr Azad said the government was only engaged in repackaging and renaming in the garb of launching new schemes while on foriegn policy, the government is “consistently inconsistent”.

Scaling up the attack on Government’s handling of Pakistan issue, Mr Sibal said the BJP, when in Opposition, used to ask why Congress was writing love letters to Pakistan.

The ruling party should answer why it invited to Pathankot a team from Pakistan. He was referring to the visit of Pakistan’s Joint Investigation Team to probe Pathankot terror attack here.

At the briefing, Mr Azad and other leaders steered clear of questions on the delay in carrying out changes in the party structure in the wake of recent poll debacle in states.

They also refrained from answering questions on the responsibility of Mr Rahul Gandhi for the poll debacle, saying the press conference was about Modi government’s performance in the last two years.