Cong to Modi: Battle between dictatorship and democracy

Congress on Saturday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remark that people will have to choose between "majboor (helpess) Sarkar and majboot (strong) Sarkar", saying the electoral battle between the "dictatorship of BJP and Congress' value of democracy".

The main opposition party said Modi's speech at the BJP National Council was silent on several issues, including his pet projects demonetisation and GST as well as issues like the agrarian crisis.

Commenting on Modi's speech in Ramlila Maidan on the second day of his party's National Council, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari also questioned claims by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that no terrorist attack happened in India since the NDA government took charge.

Tewari said Modi was silent about a series of issues, including how India's close ally Russia has decided to sell weapons to Pakistan for the first time in 70 years and cited that it was the failure of Modi government's Pakistan policy.

He said the promise of creating 10 crore jobs in five years and the crisis engulfing farmers across the country were missing from the 80-minute speech.

With Modi setting the tone for BJP’s campaign by saying that the choice before voters is between a strong government provided by BJP and a helpless ragtag unstable coalition, Tewari said, "the electoral battle in 2019 will be between the dictatorship of BJP and Congress' value of democracy."

"Modi claims that demonetisation was their biggest achievement, and yet, in his 80-minute speech, he does not mention it even once...Why didn't PM Modi comment on the promise of 10 crore jobs he had made during 2014 elections?" Tewari told reporters.

On GST, Tewari said for the first time in 70 years, a tax imposed on people was portrayed as a form of celebration but Modi did not mention this new tax today. Why did not he mention it?" he said.

Referring to Pakistan, he said, "for the first time in 70 years, Russia, a close ally of India, is selling weapons to Pakistan. Why? What is Modi's policy on Pakistan?"

Claiming that Modi has mentioned the phrase 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' for the first time in last 55 months, Tewari said the country wants to hear from the Prime Minister on why farmers are protesting today.

He also questioned Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's claim that there were no terrorist attacks in the country post-2014.
"She claims there was no terrorist attack since 2014. What about Uri, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and many other terrorist attacks after 2014?" Tewari asked.