Congress manifesto 'a bundle of lies': Sambit Patra

The BJP and several right wing organisations have taken on the Congress for a poll promise in the manifesto, where it says that if it comes to power, the Congress will ban the Bajrang Dal as well as the People’s Front of India. The ruling party said that the Congress was trying to safe the PFI, while activists of the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad held demonstrations outside the Congress office in Delhi.

In its poll manifesto, the Congress said it is committed to taking actions against individuals and organisations that spread hate among communities on grounds of caste or religion. “We believe that law and Constitution is sacrosanct and can not be violated by individuals and organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI or others promoting enmity or hatred … We will take decisive action as per law including imposing a ban on such organisations,” the manifesto states.

Read | Congress releases manifesto, promises 'Paradise of Peace' in Karnataka

At the BJP headquarters in Delhi, spokesperson Sambit Patra said that the Congress manifesto was “a bundle of lies”. “This is audacious and the height of appeasement politics. This is the Congress attempt to save PFI by insulting Lord Hanuman,” Patra told reporters.

He added that the people of Karnataka will not tolerate the “insult”. “The people of the state will give a reply to the Congress when they go to vote on May 10,” Patra said.

VHP president Vipin Bansal said that “opposing” Hindu organisations or sentiments is not new for the Congress. “The Congress’s sole aim is to appease Muslim terrorists. By equating the Bajrang Dal to the PFI, the Congress has ensured its exit from Karnataka. They are comparing a nationalistic organisation with a traitorous organisation,” he said.

The PM, too, said at an election rally that the Congress was trying to cage Hanuman.

In response, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that Modi must apologise for comparing Bajrang Dal to Bajrangbali. “How dare the prime minister compare Bajrang Dal of Dhruv Saxena-ISI fame with Lord Bajrang Bali. The PM must speak to his own minister Jyotiraditya Scindia who, in 2017, said that the Bajrang Dal has links with the ISI,” Khera said.

Party general secretary and karnataka in-charge Randeep Surjewala took to twitter and said that to compare Lord Hanuman to any individual or organisation is “an insult” and that the PM is “hurting the feelings and sentiments” of millions of Hanuman devotees. “For Modi ji and BJP, each election is about divisions on ground of religion instead of answering the basic issues of nauseating corruption, back breaking price rise, rampant unemployment, ugly and unacceptable concentration of wealth and an all pervading atmosphere of hate,” read Surjewala’s tweet.