India would have been a superpower if Congress had fulfilled their promises: Rajnath Singh

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Monday said that if Congress would have fulfilled even half of what they had promised in their manifestos India would have been a superpower by now.

"We will follow whatever we have said in this manifesto as I believe that in an independent India the party which was in power the country for a long time (Congress) had also released a manifesto, but they never fulfilled their promises. Even if half of it would have been fulfilled, India would have become a superpower," said Singh.

"I would also like to thank Dr. Harshvardhan as whatever responsibility was given to him, regarding the manifesto, he has done an excellent job and I am saying this as have read this manifesto thoroughly,"

"I would also like to thank the members of the EC on behalf of the party. It is BJP's tradition that whenever there is an election in the country, we release an election manifesto, but I want to make it clear that this is not only for the sake of doing it but because we have made a resolution," he said.

"There is a crisis in credibility of politics in the country and while preparing the manifesto, we knew that it was going to be a challenging task. Also, it is not that we are only going to do only what we have written in this, but much more," he added.

Earlier in the day, the BJP released its much-delayed manifesto on a day India began voting for a new government in the first of a nine-phase general election.

BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Ravishankar Prasad, Rama Lal, Thawarchand Gehlot and JP Nadda were also present on the dais.

The BJP manifesto has come on a day when the first of the nine phases is being held in six constituencies in the two northeastern states of Assam and Tripura.

The Election Commission on Sunday made it clear that there is no bar on a party to release its manifesto on a poll day, but it cannot be publicised or telecast in areas where elections are being held.