New Delhi: Hours after the Congress released its election manifesto, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said some of the important parts in it seemed to have been drafted by party president Rahul Gandhi’s friends in the “tukde tukde gang”.
He dubbed the manifesto as “dangerous and unimplementable”, saying it was aimed at “balkanisation” of India.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, Jaitley said, “The Congress leadership is in the grip of terrorists and Maoists. The manifesto says Section 124-A will be removed from IPC, which means committing treason is no longer a crime. The party that makes such announcements is not entitled to a single vote,” he said.
Stating that the grand old party has failed to mention plight of Kashmiri pandits in its manifesto, Jaitley said the Nehru-Gandhi family had made a historic mistake vis-a-vis Kashmir.
Regarding the party’s promise to review the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), Jaitley said though there was a robust mechanism in place to deal with complaints against armed forces personnel, the grand old party wanted them to be prosecuted at the whims of terrorists. He said this would only encourage anti-national elements.
He also said even tokenism has not been done on farm loan waiver in the five states where the Congress is in power.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi, while releasing the party’s manifesto, promised “wealth and welfare” for all sections. Apart from NYAY, the party’s minimum income guarantee promise, the manifesto also promised to increase employment and allocate a separate budget for farmers, dubbed as the Kisan Budget.
