Describing the second term of the Narendra Modi government as 0.2 for its reported “failures”, the Congress on Friday said its first anniversary was marked by “disappointment, disastrous management and diabolical pain”.
Also read: One year of Narendra Modi 2.0 | We will decide our present and future, PM tells nation
The party also released a digital pamphlet, ‘Helpless People, Heartless Government’, through a PowerPoint presentation to highlight the government’s “policy failures”.
In the presentation, the Congress came up with a set of “six myths” about what the government had promised and what it delivered and alleged that democracy was under threat, with Parliament being sidelined.
Also read: PM Modi's letter lists Art 370 abrogation, Ram temple settlement among key achievements of 2nd term
The party demanded that a virtual session of Parliament be convened immediately to discuss the pressing issues and the due process be set in motion for meetings of various parliamentary committees to be held.
At an online press conference, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that the government had been at war with its own people.
Referring to news reports on 80 migrant workers losing their lives while travelling on Shramik Special trains, Mr. Surjewala demanded the resignation of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
“It is inflicting wounds on Mother India,” he said, adding, “This government is trying to fill the coffers of the select rich and is exploiting the poor and inflicting pain on them.”
The two leaders said that while the people were feeling helpless, the government had turned out to be heartless.
Responding to BJP president J.P. Nadda’s accusation that the Congress was indulging in politics, Mr. Venugopal said that far from indulging in politics, party leaders such as Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were giving regular suggestions. “Being a responsible Opposition [party], it is our duty to raise the problems faced by the common people. ... we highlighted the failures of the government,” he said.
‘Parliament sidelined’
“When Pradhan Sewak becomes an autocratic emperor, the first casualty is the democracy. As we pointed out, democracy is under attack by the Modi government which got elected through the democratic process. Subjugation of Parliament has become the norm. Sadly and tragically, the Indian Parliament has been sidestepped in the garb or guise of coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic,” Mr. Surjewala said.
The Congress leader alleged that grassroots institutions such as panchayats, zilla parishads, municipal councils and corporations had virtually been non-functional and justice was denied to millions of people as the subordinate judiciary had been non-functional for almost 60 days now.
“PM Modi came to power promising that one U.S. dollar will be equal to ₹40. But in six years of the Modi government, the rupee has become Asia’s worst performing currency and as of May 30, one U.S. dollar was equal to ₹75.57,” read the document.
“While the country has gotten poorer, the BJP has seen a dramatic rise in its fortunes. The BJP’s income increased from ₹970 crore in 2014-2015 to ₹2,410 crore in 2019-2020. That is over 248%.,” it noted.
