PM Modi raked up ‘divisive issues’ 421 times during poll campaigning: Mallikarjun Kharge
On the last day of campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress chief also claimed that in the past 15 days, PM Modi mentioned the Congress ‘232 times.’
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of raking up “divisive issues more than 400 times" during campaigning for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
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“PM Modi spoke about ‘mandir-masjid’ (temple-mosque) and other divisive issues, more than 421 times during poll campaigning. He did this despite the Election Commission's direction of not appealing for votes on caste and religion,” Kharge said at a press conference in Delhi.
The Congress chief was speaking on the last day of campaigning for the seventh and final phase of the national polls. In the seventh phase, voting will be held on Saturday for 57 parliamentary constituencies across various states and Union territories.
The counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for June 4.
Kharge, meanwhile, also claimed that in the last 15 days of the campaign, PM Modi took his own name “758 times” and mentioned the grand old party “232 times.”
“He did not talk about unemployment even once,” the senior politician stated.
Kharge also exuded confidence that the Congress-led opposition INDIA bloc will get a clear majority and give the country an “inclusive and nationalistic government.”
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“We are confident that people will give a mandate for an alternative government on June 4,” he said, adding that voters have “endorsed” the INDIA bloc's view that if the incumbent government is re-elected, “it will be the end of democracy.”
The veteran leader also took swipe at the Prime Minister over the latter's statement in a media interview that the world came to know about Mahatma Gandhi only after the release of the Richard Attenborough-directed biopic in 1982.
“The PM may not have studied about Gandhi but Mahatma is known all over the world,” Kharge remarked.
(With PTI inputs)