Manifesto’s Promises Implementable by Wise Govt: Cong Hits Back

Finance Minister Arun Jailtey said that the promises are “dangerous” and “unimplementable”.

Arun Jaitley and P Chidambaram.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Minutes after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit out at the Congress party for “making promises which it can’t fulfil”, senior Congress leader and the head of the manifesto committee, P Chidambaram, said that the promises are implementable by a “wise and a competent government”.

Taking a swipe at Jaitley, Chidambaram also added, “I concede that this is unimplementable by a BJP government.”

Addressing reporters at a press conference after the release of the manifesto, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said the party sets ambitious goals which are achievable by a wise and a competent government.

On sedition law, the former finance minister said, "It is a colonial era law. Not one but many people have said that sedition law has become outdated. Anything that comes under sedition has no safeguards at all. The sedition law has become redundant because of subsequent laws."

Speaking about the party’s promise to review AFSPA, Chidambaram said, "We will only amend laws on issues concerning enforced disappearance, sexual violence and torture."

Jairam Ramesh said the Congress will "only implement what the Supreme Court has said. The amendment is only limited to SC verdict and it will be applicable only to the extent what SC has said in its judgment".

Congress Making ‘Dangerous’ Promises in Manifesto: Jaitley

Addressing a press conference from the BJP headquarters, Jaitley took potshots at the Congress' stand on issues of national security and promises on economy, saying, "When out of ignorance, he (Gandhi) makes unimplementable and dangerous promises, I am sure the country will not be in a mood to oblige" to allow him to execute them.”

Lashing out at the Congress for promising to repeal Section 124A of the IPC, often termed as sedition law, make bail for accused a provision and not exception and to review the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which is in force in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Northeast, Jaitley said a party which says that "treason" will no longer be a crime does not deserve a single vote.

Former prime ministers and Congress leaders, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, did not change the sedition law, Jaitley said, adding that it is no longer a crime for the party's leadership "in the grip of jihadis and Maoists".

Some of these ideas are "positively dangerous" and carry an agenda for "Balkanisation of India", he said.

Jaitley also said that the manifesto of the party is against the “unity of the nation”. Taking a dig at the drafting committee of the party, the finance minister added, “Even though there was a drafting committee, it appears that some of the important points have been drafted by the Congress president’s friends in ‘tukde-tukde gang’ when it deals with Jammu & Kashmir.”

"Those who lay down their lives for the country, you want them to be prosecuted at the behest of terrorists and their friends. Ingratitude is the biggest sin that any political party can commit. This is what the Congress has done," he said on the party's promise to review AFSPA.

Union minister Sushma Swaraj slammed the Congress' manifesto, claiming it made "traitors and separatists happy".

Addressing BJP women workers’ meet in Nagpur, she said, “The Congress manifesto has made deshdrohi (traitor) and algavwadi (separatist) people happy. It is unfortunate for the country that on one side Prime Minister Narendra Modi is giving a befitting reply to Pakistan's terror attacks with surgical and air strikes. On the other hand, the Congress president is refusing to accept treason as a crime.”

Pack of Lies: Amit Shah

BJP President Amit Shah dubbed the Congress’ election manifesto a "pack of lies" and said it was an insult to the country's people and its soldiers.

In a statement, he hit out at the opposition party over its promise to repeal Section 124A (sedition law) and review the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, saying it is bringing a smile to terrorists and separatists while lowering the morale of the armed forces.

Shah claimed that repealing the sedition law will lead to the chanting of slogans like "Bharat tere tukde honge" (India will break into pieces) by ‘anti-national gangs’ instead of those of "Bharat mata ki jai" (Hail Mother India) under the Congress rule.

"Removing AFSPA will snatch armed forces' weapons to attack terrorists," Shah added.

Kanhaiya Kumar on Sedition Law

Kanhaiya Kumar, who shot to fame after being booked for treason following his participation in a gathering where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, welcomed the promise of scrapping the draconian sedition law made in the Congress manifesto released by its president Rahul Gandhi, reported PTI.

"The latest instance of its misuse we saw in BJP-ruled Assam, where peasant leader Akhil Gogoi was booked under this law just because he raised a voice against the Citizenship Bill", Kumar said in Begusarai, where he is in the fray as CPI candidate.

He, however, added that it is going to be a long process.

(With inputs from PTI)