BJP taking India on path of economic disaster: PC

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of reopening issues that are polarising the country and taking it on a path of conflict and economic disaster.

"The BJP (is) nearing the end of its term, (and) has resurrected the Hindutva agenda," Chidambaram said, pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself on August 15, 2014, appealed to the people to put a moratorium of 10 years on all issues that were divisive and controversial.

"Today, that appeal has been forgotten and the BJP -- from the prime minister to the chief ministers, ministers and party functionaries to 'pracharaks' to supporters -- has embraced Hindutva and has reopened every issue that is divisive, controversial and polarising," the former Union minister told reporters here.

Chidambaram said the Congress was implacably opposed to the BJP not because of being a rival party. "The opposition to BJP is because its vision of India is majoritarian, insular, exclusionary, discriminatory, oppressive and illiberal."

He said it was the duty of the Congress to caution the people that the BJP was taking the country "on a path of conflict and economic disaster".

"The BJP had come to power on promises that it never intended to fulfil, and which, anyway, it was incompetent to deliver... Many of those promises were 'jumlas'. Every promise has gone up in smoke," he said.

Continuing his tirade against the BJP, Chidambaram asked, "Where is the promise of doubling farmers' income, reducing the prices of food and fuel, restoring the exchange value of the rupee to Rs 40 per US dollar, putting an end to alleged tax terrorism, achieving double-digit GDP growth rate?"

About his visit to Guwahati, the Congress leader said he would hold an open-house consultation about the party's manifesto for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress manifesto will outline a vision for the future and the path that the country should take towards becoming a truly-free, open, liberal, equal, inclusive, prosperous, just and humane society, he added.