With the election campaigning coming to an end on Thursday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of running a divisive campaign. Kharge said PM Modi used the ‘mandir’ word 421 times in his speeches, his own name, Modi, 758 times and Muslim, Pakistan and minorities 224 times but didn’t even once mention inflation and unemployment. While addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Kharge, who himself has addressed more than 100 public meetings and given over 50 interviews said, “Modiji 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 di rection of not appealing for votes on caste and religion,” Kharge said. Kharge pointed out that if we look at BJP’s campaign and talk about the Prime Minister, in the last 15 days he mentioned Congress 232 times. Kharge said that Modi mentioned his own name, 758 times and on 573 times, he spoke about INDIA alliance and opposition parties. “But he didn’t speak once about price rise and unemployment. It shows that he kept the important issues aside and only spoke about himself in the campaign,” Kharge said before the campaigning for the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections drew to a close. The Congress chief also took a dig at the Election Commission for not acting against the Prime Minister for the divisive election campaign despite the poll panel itself prohibited parties from appealing on caste or communal lines. Kharge also said that the campaigning will end on Thursday evening, and this election will remembered for long. “It will be remembered as all citizens of country as people are fighting to save Constitution and democracy and they have come together,” Kharge said, adding that “we have seen how such words were used for Congress manifesto and Modi also disrespected the Prime Minister’s chair with such usage of words. Kharge also took a dig at Modi for his remarks on Mahatama Gandhi, saying that he should read the freedom fighter’s autobiography once he’s free from election results. “Yesterday, Prime Minister Modi said that the world got to know about Mahatma Gandhi after watching Richard Attenborough’s film. I find it amusing. To say that the world was introduced to Gandhi after watching a film, for a Prime Minister… is it ignorance or did he not study about Gandhi?” “In our times we had texts in school, and if he would have read it, he wouldn’t have said anything like this. The whole world knows about Mahatma Gandhi. There are statues in front of UNO (United Nation Office). Many leaders praise Mahatma Gandhi… at least 70-80 countries have a statue of him. Countries that have gained independence through non-violence, they all know about Mahatama Gandhi,” Kharge said. He also said that if Modi or anyone in BJP is ignorant, “the least you can do is whenever you’re free after June 4, read his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, — which was a school text for us — and become Gandhian,” Kharge said. “You don’t get this knowledge just by sitting at the Vivekananda site or taking a dip in the Ganga. You have to read about it,” the Congress chief said taking a pot shot at the Prime Minister over his three day meditation programme at Vivekanand Memorial Rock in Kanyakumari and his previous dip at river Ganga. Kharge also said that he was “shocked” over the Prime Minister’s remarks. “It’s possible that he doesn’t know about Gandhi and what he has said, so I assume he doesn’t know about the Constitution either,” he added. He also said that the IN DIA bloc will form government with a clear majority and will give the country an inclusive, nationalistic government. “We are confident that people will give a mandate for an alternative government on June 4,” the Congress president said.
