In Karnataka’s Belagavi, PM Modi says ‘mentality of appeasement’ apparent in Congress manifesto

According to the PM, the “mentality of appeasement” was apparent in the Congress manifesto. Referring to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Modi said the two have announced conducting an ‘X-ray’ of the country if voted to power. “An X-ray of your property will be done. They will do an X-ray of bank lockers, the total land you have will be X-rayed, (and), the vehicles you own will be X-rayed. The money with women, their ornaments and gold, and their mangal sutra will be X-rayed. This means, they will raid every house and take over your property,” Modi said.

“After taking over your property, the Congress is talking about redistribution. It wants to give that to its favourite vote bank,” he said.

Talking about the inheritance tax, PM Modi said the Congress party would bring a law under which 55 per cent of “whatever you save for your children, small house and some money” will be taxed and taken away. “This means that if you have two houses, one will be in Congress pocket and you have to share the second with your two children… To protect their vote bank, they want to steal your property,” the PM added.

Last Sunday while addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara, Modi said that the Congress, if voted to power, could distribute the nation’s wealth among “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”. Even as he has repeated his charge at several campaign events, the senior Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Anumula Revanth Reddy, have hit back, saying “he doing this out of nervousness” and that the “BJP is trying to create confusion among voters”.

He also accused the Congress of spreading lies to damage the country. “The Congress has hatched a conspiracy to destroy democracy in the country. It should apologise to the nation,” he said.

The Prime Minister said Congress’s ‘Shahzada’ has insulted ‘rajas and maharajas of the country’ by accusing them of committing atrocities and forcefully taking over people’s land. “By making such statements, he has insulted rulers like Shivaji and Kittur Rani Chennamma… The statement by Shahzada was for vote bank politics and appeasement… But, he is silent on the atrocities committed by nawabs, nizams, sultans and badshahs,” Modi said during the rally.

“For the Shahzada of Congress, the contributions of rajas and maharajas are not important. For vote bank politics, he dares to speak against rajas and maharajas,” he said, adding that Congress was silent on temples destroyed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Referring to the recent incidents of Neha Hiremath murder and The Rameshwaram Cafe blast, Modi said law and order had gone for a toss in the country. “Following Hiremath’s murder, the family asked for strict action against the culprit. They (the Congress government) have no value for the lives of daughters like Neha. They are only worried about vote bank politics,” he said.

The Lok Sabha election 2024 for 28 parliamentary constituencies in Karnataka is being held in two phases. While in the first phase, voting was held in 14 seats on April 26, polling for the remaining 14 Lok Sabha seats of Karnataka, including Belagavi, will be held on May 7.