Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday wrapped up his campaign in Tripura for the Lok Sabha polls, accusing Congress and its ally Communist Party of India (Marxist) of turning the country’s “Look East” policy into a “Loot East” strategy.
Seeking votes for the BJP in two Lok Sabha seats of Tripura, Modi said Congress and the Communists “in the name of Look East Policy, the previous governments renamed it as Loot East Policy.”
Modi further said that soon after assuming power in 2014, he put a stop to the looting by adopting Act East Policy so that each state of the northeastern region becomes a model of development.
He alleged that Congress and CPI-M are allies in Kerala but are fighting each other in the elections in the state.
Without naming Rahul Gandhi, Modi said “Congress Yuvraj demanded that the (Kerala) chief minister be sent to jail for corruption — what ridiculous parties they are?
“It’s incredibly opportunistic to see them (Congress and CPI-M) fighting together in Tripura while opposing each other in Kerala. In Kerala, Congress brands the Communists as terrorists while the Communists accuse the Congress of corruption,” he added.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee yesterday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be scrapped if opposition bloc INDIA forms government at the Centre.
She also alleged that the BJP has made the entire country a “detention camp”.
Addressing an election rally in Silchar in support of four TMC candidates in Assam, she said that there will be “no democracy and elections if Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns to power” for the third consecutive term.
Later in the day, the TMC released its manifesto for the upcoming elections in which it has promised to repeal the CAA, and stop the NRC, reports Times of India.
It also vowed that the Uniform Civil Code “will not be implemented across India”.
In the manifesto titled ‘Didir Shopoth (Didi’s pledges), the party pledged to “uplift every Indian with guaranteed employment, universal housing, free LPG cylinders, assured MSP for farmers, scholarships for SC, ST, OBC students and much more”.
Releasing the manifesto at the party headquarters, TMC’s Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O’ Brien said, “These are the promises which we will fulfill as part of INDIA bloc, when it forms the next government.”
The TMC walked out of the INDIA bloc in January over disagreements regarding seat-sharing with the Congress in Bengal.
However, the Mamata Banerjee-led party had said it continues to be part of the INDIA bloc at the national level.
