Congress ready with booklet

The Congress will come out with a booklet on the Narendra Modi government’s performance in the last two years in the coming days asking questions on the rise in the prices of essential commodities, creation of jobs, handling of the drought affecting about 40 crore population, farmer suicides, the communal atmosphere and international issues. The government will be completing two years next week.

Party sources said finishing touches were being given to the document which would highlight the “omissions and commissions” of the BJP-led government.

“The last two years were those of complete disillusionment and disappointment for the people of the country,” AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed told reporters. Speaking separately, party spokesperson Shobha Oza spoke in a similar vein. “The years of Modi govt: drought of ideas, drain of credibility,” the AICC said in a commentary posted on its website.

It alleged that the Modi government’s policy decisions and priorities are “heavily skewed against” the interests of India’s poor, farmers, labourers and unusually inclined towards the interests of few big business houses. “The attitude of the Modi government can be been summed up by their inaction & indifference in handling 2 years of drought,” it said.

It recalled that Cabinet minister Uma Bharti even went on record saying “no one can prepare for a drought” and when the Indian Railways sent a “water train” to Maharashtra, it sent a “bill” for '2 crore to the state government.

“These two incidents are clear indicators that to the Modi administration farmers don’t matter.”

It claimed that Modi’s “crony capitalist friends” invested heavily in his 2014 election campaign.”They were instrumental in designing, funding & executing his surreal campaign and creating a demigod like aura around his person.”

“So when the time came, it was obvious they would ask for returns. On 26 May, 2014, Modi became the Prime Minister of India, but the backrooms of his new government had already been taken up by his corporate friends,” it claimed.

When the government releases latest data in July, the number of farmers who have committed suicide will be “significantly higher”, it further claimed.

To put the issue in perspective, the party said in Maharashtra alone 3228 farmers have committed suicide, significantly higher than the official all-India number.