Mumbai: Congress-led I.N.D.I.A. on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his statement that "bulldozer would run over Ram Mandir and Ram Lalla would be sent back to a tent in Ayodhya" if the opposition bloc is voted to power at the Centre.
According to the I.N.D.I.A. leadership, Modi is flaring up communal passions as "he knows that the BJP is losing" the Lok Sabha polls.
Congress President and Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and former Maharashtra chief ministers - Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar - also made an assurance of protecting all religious places, during a press conference in Mumbai as campaign drew to a close for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing an election rally in Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, Modi had said: “If the Congress, Samajwadi Party and their I.N.D.I.A. partners come to power, they would run bulldozer over the Ram Mandir…our Ram Lalla would have to return to the tent again. They should take lessons from (Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister) Yogi Adityanath on where to run bulldozers and where not to.”
Responding to it, Kharge said: “Nothing of this sort would happen. Modi speaks of things which are not possible at all. Modi has the habit of lying and inciting people about things which Congress will never do or the things that are impossible to be implemented.”
One the other hand, Thackeray said that if the opposition alliance is voted to power, they would complete the construction of Ram Mandir, which as of now is incomplete.
“Religious places of all - Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians - would be protected,” added Pawar.
Kharge said, "Modi knows that he is not coming to power again and he is making confusing and illogical statements like Congress party has communal manifesto, Maoist manifesto, Muslim League manifesto and so on."
“I have been in politics for 53 years, Pawar Saheb more than me and Uddhav ji has seen politics from the beginning. No Prime Minister before Modi has ever indulged in inciting people like he has been doing. He speaks about democracy repeatedly but doesn’t adhere to the tenets of democracy,” Kharge said.
Kharge claimed that the Maha Vikas Aghadi would get 46 seats of the 48 Lok Sabha seats. However, Thackeray claimed that they would get 48 out of the 48 seats.
“In 2014, the Prime Minister had promised ‘achhe din’ (during the election campaign). But, on June 4 (the election results), ‘achhe din’ will actually begin when the I.N.D.I.A. alliance government will assume office. All these years the BJP defamed and looted the state, shifted businesses from Maharashtra-Mumbai to Gujarat,” said Thackeray.
On Article 370, Kharge said that he is not “answerable to Modi”, and that the party would implement all that is promised in its manifesto.
Kharge said that if elected, the opposition alliance's government will implement a "simple, single-rate GST", replacing the present GST.
"We introduced the Food Security Act, but Modi is taking credit for free ration supply," he added.