Congress manifesto a bunch of lies: Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday dubbed the Congress manifesto as a “bunch of lies”and alleged that the opposition party has inflicted a cruel attack on national security and an insult to the armed forces.

“In its manifesto, Congress has pledged to dilute the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Congress should clarify whether it wants to encourage or demoralise the armed forces,” Shah said in a statement on Tuesday.

Shah said Congress has also promised to repeal Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code which defines and then punishes an accused in a sedition case. “Promising to weaken the IPC to shield conspirators against the country and AFSPA, Congress has tried to bring smiles on the faces of terrorists and separatists,” the BJP president said.

He said repealing AFSPA will lead to serious consequences as the armed forces will be robbed off a major tool against terrorist organisations.

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Shah alleged that Rahul Gandhi’s ally Omar Abdullah wants a separate Prime Minister for Kashmir. “I want to ask Rahul Gandhi, do you agree with Omar Abdullah? Let me tell you that BJP will never let it happen. Kashmir is an integral part of India and nobody can take it away from us,” Shah said.

The BJP chief said Congress manifesto has said that everyone should get bail, despite the seriousness of crime, perhaps to shield Karti Chidambaram.

He said the false promise made by Congress about relief to the farmers through their hype on NYAY was also exposed on Tuesday as the manifesto is ambiguous about how it will be implemented and also speaks about support of the states.

“Now Congress says that the expenditure on income support to the poor will be borne by the Centre and states. But there is a possibility that states can excuse themselves saying they are already providing adequate relief to the poor through several existing schemes,” Shah said adding false promises found adequate space in the manifesto.