Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (July 1) accused the Congress of deceiving the poor in the name of “false guarantees” in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol.
These “guarantees” — a term used to describe welfare schemes promised before elections — are understood to have helped the Opposition party defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Karnataka Assembly polls in May. It also forms the core of its electoral strategy in MP, one of the five States where Assembly polls are due this year.
Addressing a gathering at the launch event of the National Sickle Cell Anemia Eradication Mission 2047, and distribution of one crore Ayushman Bharat cards, which he described as one of his own guarantees, the Prime Minister targeted the Opposition, saying that their guarantees could have adverse economic consequences for States. He used a new slogan — “Gareeb par chot aur niyat mein khot [attack on the poor and flawed intentions]” — to attack his political opponents.
