Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has expressed confidence that his party would win a majority in the ongoing Lok Sabha election. That is precisely why, Kharge said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was talking about ‘mangalsutra and Muslims’ in his election speeches.
“We are going to win a majority in this election. And that is why, he (PM Modi) is always talking about mangalsutra and Muslims. He is saying that Congress will steal your wealth and give it to those who have more children (Muslims). Poor people always have more children. Do only Muslims have them (children)? I have five children,” Kharge said on April 30 at an election rally in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district, according to a report in the Indian Express.
Kharge was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s April 21 remarks at a rally in Rajasthan in which he claimed that the Congress, if in power, would snatch people’s wealth and distribute it among Muslims. The Prime Minister has repeatedly attributed this claim to Congress party’s election manifesto for 2024 Lok Sabha Elections and a 2006 speech of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which is heard saying that ‘Muslims have first right on country’s resources.’
The remarks snowballed into a political row with the Congress moving Election Commission of India against the Prime Minister on this.
“I was the only son and when every one else died in the incident, my father said that he was alive only to see my children. 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,” the Congress president said adding that Congress, in power in the country for 55 years, had not stolen anyone’s ‘mangalsutra’.
Kharge, in his speech, also invoked the death of his mother and uncle, killed when his house was set on fire in 1948, and alleged that PM Modi would target Muslims.
The seven-phase Lok Sabha Elections will end with the last phase on June 1. The results will be declared on June 4. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is seeking a record third term under PM Modi, has set a target of winning 400 seats this election. The ruling alliance is challenged by the opposition parties led by the Congress under the banner of the INDIA bloc.
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