Congress Lodges Complaint After BJP Accuses Manifesto of Having “Muslim League Imprint

The Congress released its 2024 Lok Sabha election manifesto on Friday. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has led the fightback against the BJP’s accusations, stating that the party is aware it is going to lose the election and is acting out of fear. The party has filed a complaint with the Election Commission regarding the matter. On Saturday, while addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur, the Prime Minister declared the Congress’ manifesto “completely bears the imprint of the Muslim League”.

In response, the Congress’ Pawan Khera told reporters that they have raised many issues, including how the Prime Minister referred to their manifesto as a “copy of the Muslim League” and about Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s election affidavits. Mr. Khera and other top leaders later met with the poll panel this afternoon. The “Muslim League imprint” jab also drew a response from Mr. Kharge, who attacked the Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah for “spreading falsehood.” He made a strong swipe at the BJP and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), stating that “everyone knows how (Syama) Prasad Mookerjee formed his governments in Bengal, Sindh, and NWFP (North West Frontier Province) in the 1940s in coalition with the Muslim League.”

The Congress also pointed out that Jana Sangh founder and BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee was himself part of a coalition government in Bengal with the Muslim League in the early 1940s. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh was quoted as saying by news agency PTI that “It is the BJP, not the Congress, that believes in and practices the politics of divisiveness.” The section of the manifesto that has sparked this row is a guarantee to increase reservation for marginalized groups, including Dalits, past the Supreme Court’s 50 per cent cap. BJP President J.P. Nadda criticized the Congress, stating that “The Muslim League talked about reservation on the basis of religion in 1929… Congress is repeating the same thing.”