It will be 'haar haar Modi' May 16, says Congress

The Congress Thursday issued a point-by-point rebuttal of BJP leader Narendra Modi's accusations against the party at a rally in Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday.

At a press meet at the Congress headquarters here, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha asked Modi and the Bharatiya Janata party to apologise for his "mare Kisan, mare jawan" statement.

"This is an insult to the defence minister of the country. This is a statement that is pregnant with lies," Jha said, referring to Modi's comment in Hiranagar town of Jammu region where he said farmers and the armed forces were in a pitiable condition under the Congress-led UPA.

"A leader is expected to inspire people rather than demoralise the nation with regressive comments about the armed forces," Jha said.

He said the UPA has been instrumental in raising minimum support prices for agricultural produce which has helped farmers whereas the number of farmers committing suicide is on the rise in Gujarat.

In the case of defence, it was the Congress that stepped up defence modernisation unlike the BJP-led NDA government which had released terrorists in Kandahar in 1999, he said.

He said the BJP's controversial "Har Har Modi" (Hail Modi!) slogan will become "Haar Haar Modi" (Modi, Lose!) after election results are announced May 16.

Jha said although Modi was asking for a mandate to become "chowkidar" (watchman) of the country, people saw in 2002 how miserably he had failed as a watchman of Gujarat by letting the Godhra riots happen.

He said the Congress would put up a strong candidate in Varanasi against Modi.

"We have no dearth of 'soldiers' to challenge Modi. An announcement will be made soon," he said.

Jha also lashed out at the Gujarat model of growth, and said the state has been faring poorly in human development indices, with 35 percent of its children underweight and 55 percent women anaemic.