Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Tuesday that his party was on course to win a majority in the ongoing Lok Sabha election and that this was why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was bringing up “mangalsutra and Muslims” in his speeches.
“We are going to get majority, and because of this, he (Modi) is always talking about mangalsutra and Muslims.
He says we will steal your wealth and give it to those who have more children.
Poor people always have more children… Do only Muslims have them (children)?
I have five children,” Kharge said at an election rally in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Tuesday that his party was on course to win a majority in the ongoing Lok Sabha election and that this was why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was bringing up “mangalsutra and Muslims” in his speeches.
“We are going to get majority, and because of this, he (Modi) is always talking about mangalsutra and Muslims. He says we will steal your wealth and give it to those who have more children. Poor people always have more children… Do only Muslims have them (children)? I have five children,” Kharge said at an election rally in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district.
He was referring to Modi’s remarks at a rally in Rajasthan last week when the PM had said, “Earlier, when they (the Congress) were in power, they had said Muslims have the first right to the wealth of the nation. This means they will distribute this wealth to those who have more children, to infiltrators…”
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Mentioning the death of his mother and uncle, who were killed when his house was set on fire in 1948, Kharge said, “I was the only son… My house was burnt and everyone died… (My father) said, ‘I am alive only to see your children’. So, the poor, who don’t have money, have children. Why do you (Modi) target only Muslims? Muslims are in their country…they are Indians. Brothers, do not get misled by them (BJP) and let us build the country together…let us not break this country.”
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh, Tuesday. (ANI) Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh, Tuesday. (ANI)
He pointed out that the Congress had been in power in the country for 55 years and that it had not stolen anyone’s mangalsutra. “Did we forcibly apply taxes and misuse the ED and CBI to put people in jail?… (Former Congress president) Sonia (Gandhi) ji showed courage and brought the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act… did they (BJP) take any such measure? We also brought the Food Security Act. We did not say this is our guarantee but we did this to ensure no one goes hungry in the country, and crores benefited,” he said.
He insisted that Modi could not be compared to former PMs like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. “Can you compare such a person to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi ji, Lal Bahadur Shastri ji, Rajiv Gandhi ji?… You (Modi) are nothing compared to them… They gave the country steel factories, coal mines, dams and public sector enterprises. What did you do? Just jumlas,” Kharge said.
