Modi government has only indulged in rhetoric, marketing: Congress

The Congress on Friday rejected BJP chief Amit Shah's claims on the performance of the Narendra Modi government, saying "they have only indulged in fooling the people by 'jumlebazi' (rhetoric) and marketing themselves".

"We would like to remind PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to stop fooling the people of this country by 'Jumlebazi' and marketing and start governing in the last three years which are left for them in office," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.

"Shah claimed that government has taken a lot of steps for employment generation in the country. This is the biggest joke Amit Shah could have cracked on the people of India.

"Against the promise of two crore jobs per year made by Modi, only 1.34 lakh jobs were created this year, which is the lowest figure in several years," he added.

Tewari also hit out at Shah on the issue of corruption by saying: "Shah said after two years, even our opponents can not make any allegations of corruption against us".

"We would like to remind Amit Shah that under the doorstep of the prime minister, several scams have taken place and the government has hardly taken any concrete steps to deal with them.

"Since two years, this government has not even appointed a Lokpal, which would have exposed more such scams and has systematically assaulted the RTI (Right to Information act). More than 20 RTI activists have been murdered during this government's tenure," said Tewari.

Tewari also said that it was the Congress government that launched the Soil Health Card scheme in 2008-09 and five crore cards were issued till March 2012.

"The system for soil testing was introduced by the Congress government. As per records, till March 31, 2014, there were 1,411 laboratories for examination of soil in the country. This government is asserting that new laboratories would be opened, but so far not a single new laboratory has been added," he said.

He further said: "Shah praised the Modi government for its development work in the agricultural sector. This is appalling considering the rate of farmer suicides in the country and the complete apathy of this government with respect to the Kisan, Khet Mazdoor and the rural parts of the country.

He said 33 percent of India is facing drought and farmers are facing unprecedented struggles. Agriculture has grown at just one percent, he added.

Tewari also said the growth in industrial production plunged to 0.1 percent in March 2016 due to poor performance of manufacturing and mining sectors coupled with sharp decline in output of capital goods.

"Number of stalled projects is highest since the Modi government took office. As of March 2016, there are 893 stalled projects, which is an increase of 17% since March 2014," he said.

--IANS

sid/rn/bg