As Modi govt turns 9, Cong & BJP spar over its performance

New Delhi, May 26

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed nine years in office on Friday having assumed charge on May 26, 2014, the Congress and the BJP clashed over the legacy of his rule, with the Opposition questioning the PM’s record and the ruling party defending it across all parameters.

The Congress, led by party general secretary Jairam Ramesh, posed nine questions to the PM, asking him to “apologise for betraying the people”. “This day should be marked as maafi divas,” he said.

PM never calls for peace

In times of social unrest, it is crucial for leaders to play a unifying role…but the PM has failed to do so. He never calls for peace. Congress’ booklet ‘Nine Years, Nine Questions’

Pack of lies

The accusations by the Congress are nothing but a pack of lies and a mountain of deceit. These accusations stem from Congress’ pathological hatred for PM Modi. —Ravi Shankar Prasad, Former minister

Fielding the Opposition attack, former minister Ravi Shankar Prasad rejected all charges as a “pack of lies” and a “mountain of deceit”, and said “these accusations stem from Congress’ pathological hatred for the PM”.

The Congress, in a booklet, “Nau Saal, Nau Sawaal” (Nine Years, Nine Questions), which will be distributed across 35 cities, including Chandigarh and Dharamsala on Saturday, questioned the PM on several issues such as price rise, Covid response, the MSP, the LAC standoff, polarisation and raids on Opposition leaders.

Prasad, who addressed the media after Ramesh, said retail inflation was 4.7 per cent as against 8.9 per cent in the US, and India was the fifth largest economy under PM Modi out of the erstwhile “fragile five” club.

The Congress fired salvos, saying the PM “never calls for harmony”.

The party’s booklet said that “in times of social unrest, it is crucial for leaders to play a unifying role… but the PM has failed to do so. He never calls for peace — not when peaceful protesters are attacked, not when riots happen in Delhi and not when Manipur burns”.

The Congress also asked “why the MSP has not been legalised in spite of promises to farmers and why institutions have been undermined”.

Prasad hit back at the Congress’s charge of Covid “mismanagement”, saying “this is the height of shamelessness when the world has hailed India’s response as the best”.

Even as Congress leaders termed PM’s silence on unrest in some states as “perhaps unsurprising”, Prasad listed growth of the Indian economy from “$1 trillion in 2014 to $3.5 trillion today; over Rs 50 lakh crore forex reserves, doubled exports and expanded infrastructure as examples of massive strides India has made under the PM”.

The two parties also traded charges on corruption, with the BJP recalling cases during the UPA government.