Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma called the BJP’s election manifesto as “political plagiarism” as it has lifted ideas from the ongoing projects in the current UPA government and showed them as part of their manifesto. He also said that the BJP predictions about the electoral victories were based entirely on doctored opinions polls. At an interaction with the mediapersons here on Sunday, Sharma admitted that the Congress was left behind by the huge propaganda machinery of Narendra Modi which had a budget of Rs 10,000 crore. With this propaganda, the BJP along with RSS machinery was doing at its best in polarising the society. “As per my knowledge, Rs 10,000 crore were spent just on media, such as full-page advertisements in major newspapers and campaigns on more than 700 television channels,” he said. “BJP leaders claim they will bring black money back. I agree with them, as they are the ones who know where that money is hidden. They also know how that money can be used,” Sharma said. “I never take Modi seriously as he is a loudmouth and his knowledge of history, geography, economics and mathematics, so whatever he says is not credible. This poll is just a trailer, all they are doing under Modi is promoting him to a high pedestal, nearly next to God, but this will take India to despotism,” he said. He said that Modi has now remembered Sardar Patel for political use. “It is strange that the BJP has printed photographs of Gandhiji and Sardar Patel on election material. We are going to write to the Election Commission in this regard. This was never done before,” Sharma said. He said that when Modi was building a Sardar statue, he must write under it that Sardar Patel had banned RSS and that the RSS had given a written undertaking to the then-government that it would not take part in politics. Criticising the Gujarat model of development, he said, “In education, Gujarat stands 17th, in curbing malnutrition, it is last. It has the highest school dropout ratio in India. With a debt of Rs 1,70,000 crore, it is the third most indebted state in India. This is the reality of Gujarat model.” Sharma also reeled out figures from official data to prove that UPA had done much more that Modi was projecting to do in his future vision.
