The Congress on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misusing public money and government events to attack the Opposition and further the BJP’s propaganda.
At a press conference here, senior leader Anand Sharma said the mindset of the Prime Minister “is a matter of grave national concern” and urged the Election Commission to take note of it. He also accused Mr. Modi of lowering the level of political discourse and repeatedly undermining the dignity of his office. “He is travelling the country and using government resources and machinery that he can use as the Prime Minister for the inauguration of government programmes and government schemes; but he cannot use public money and resources and all the facilities that come with the office of Prime Minister to address his party meetings and to engage in political propaganda which is also abusive and berating the Opposition party,” Mr. Sharma said.
“He is the first Prime Minister who is full of vitriol and ill will towards the Opposition, especially the Congress, and has the dubious distinction of dragging the political discourse to the gutter level,” he said.
Mr. Sharma said ₹6,000 crore had been spent on Mr. Modi’s “propaganda,” including the huge expenditure incurred by the public sector undertakings for advertisements. “No Prime Minister in the history of India holds the record of wasting public money for election campaign. The Prime Minister is the BJP’s chief propagandist and has used his entire tenure for the propaganda of the BJP,” he said.
Mr. Sharma also denied Mr. Modi’s claims at the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Varanasi. “Instead of making tall claims, Mr. Modi must answer why we are losing jobs. As many as 1.10 crore jobs have been destroyed because of his policies. Investments have fallen by 7 percentage points and gross fixed capital formation remains in the negative. He must answer why exports are slumping and why there is a flight of capital if India has indeed made so much progress under him,” he said.
