Congress releases charge sheet against ‘Bhrasht Jumla Party’ that serves select few

The two-month campaign will be a 'political' follow-up to the 'non-political' Bharat Jodo Yatra with elections in mind

Congress Saturday released a charge sheet against the Narendra Modi government as part of its upcoming ‘Haath se Haath Jodo’ programme starting on January 26, describing the BJP as ‘Bhrasht Jumla Party’ (party of corruption and false promises).

The two-month campaign will be a “political” follow-up to the Bharat Jodo Yatra with elections in mind during which the party leaders and workers visit 6.5 lakh villages across the country with a letter from its leader Rahul Gandhi and the charge sheet against Modi government.

The campaign will start four days before the culmination of the 3,570 km Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra in Srinagar when Rahul will unfurl the tricolour in Congress headquarters in Kashmir’s Lal Chowk and address a public meeting for which the party has extended an invitation to presidents of 23 Opposition parties.

Also read | Cong's 2-month campaign to spread Rahul's message

The charge sheet alleges that the "Bhrasht Jumla Party" is only with a select few, doing things for its own benefit while cheating all. It alleged that Modi flew to Delhi to take oath as Prime Minister in a businessman's private jet whose wealth grew 50 times since 2014 and this "close friend" was given more than 30 per cent of India's ports, airports, electricity and coal capacity.

It also claimed that the government waived loans worth Rs 72,000 crore taken by "Modi's friends" but not a singer farmer's loan.

Seeking to turn the tables on accusations of family rule in the Congress, the charge sheet claimed that it has turned into a 'Bhai-Bhatija Party' with 65 such beneficiaries, including 20 ministers, 14 MPs and 31 MLAs. "Amit Shah's son runs Indian cricket while Agniveers are told to become security guards.

"While Ganga was filled with corpses of oxygen-deprived Covid-19 victims, Modi was busy with election rallies...BJP bought over 300 MLAs/MPs and toppled seven state governments to undo people's mandates. Modi's friends have bought all TV and print media while IT, ED and CBI silence dissident voices," it said.

Releasing the charge sheet and logo for the ‘Haath se Haath Jodo’ campaign, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal said the Bharat Jodo Yatra has given them a “real field impact study” on the jobs, price rise and divisive politics practised by the BJP in the country.

“After 140 days of yatra, Congress has got enough input from people about the situation in the country. We can understand the sufferings of people. Modi came to power promising two crore jobs every year. Nine years have gone by and how many jobs this government has created? People are discussing these things now,” he said adding, that is why the party decided to follow up with a new campaign.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh made it clear that the ‘Haath se Haath Jodo’ campaign is a “100% political campaign” while the yatra was not done with elections in mind.

Asked why Rahul is not hoisting the tricolour in Lal Chowk, Ramesh said it is wrong to say so as the Congress state headquarters is located in Lal Chowk only and opponents were spreading lies. “If the former Congress president is going, where is he supposed to do this? In party office only,” he said while Venugopal pointed out that they needed their own structure to do this exercise and they chose the party office.

The charge sheet also alleged that education fees have tripled and graduates were working as labourers, delivery boys and 'pakodewalas'. While demonetisation and GST forced 23 crore into poverty, lost 50 lakh jobs and shut down lakhs of MSMEs, the document alleged that fuel prices have hit a century and gas cylinders crossed Rs 1,100.

It claimed the now-repealed "black" farm laws caused the death of 700 farmers and a loss of Rs 60,000 crore, while atrocities on women are also rising under the BJP rule.

The charge sheet also mentioned Chinese aggression, sliding rupee and India's dismal ranking in international indices.