Smriti Irani's Amethi jab at Rahul Gandhi as Congress chief trashes BJP manifesto

Union Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday slammed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi over his attack on BJP's Lok Sabha poll manifesto and reminded him of the status of development in Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency Amethi. “Despite having a vision, there's a question mark on his efficiency as nations knows condition of Amethi. On one hand there's an efficient govt which has taken resolution to build a New India, on the other there's a man who stays restricted to making announcements,” Irani was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. In morning, Gandhi had trashed BJP’s ‘sankalp patra’ calling it “voice of an isolated man.”

With the BJP making nationalism a central theme of its poll campaign, its manifesto released on Monday asserted that the security doctrine will be guided by national interest only, mentioning surgical strike and air strike against terrorists as examples of its stand, and promised NRC exercise in other parts of India. The party said it will firmly continue with its policy of giving a free hand to security forces in combating terrorism.

Talking tough on infiltration, the party has said it will implement National Register of Citizens, which is currently underway in Assam to identify illegal immigrants, in a phased manner in other parts of the country, as they cause "huge change" in the cultural and linguistic identity of the areas they live. "The decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fundamentally altered the national security paradigm of India in the last five years," the manifesto released by top party leaders, including Modi and its president Amit Shah, said. If vote to power again, the BJP will continue with its zero-tolerance approach to terrorism, it said.

The BJP has made national security a major poll plank following the Balakot air strike targeting a terror camp in Pakistan after the death of at least 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama terror attack on February 14. 

Meanwhile, News Nation had yesterday done a status check on BJP’s 2014 poll promises.

Promise: 33 per cent reservation for women through a constitutional amendment.

Status: The promise still remains a distant dream even after the Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced unconditional support in Parliament.

Promise: In 2014, black money was a big issue and Narendra Modi had promised to bring back all the unaccounted money stashed in foreign banks in just 100 days.

Status: The promise remains fulfilled. Although the BJP announced demonetisation in 2016 to end the black money in 50 days, the move did very little to address the issue.

Promise: Employment was also one of the biggest issues of 2014 elections and Narendra Modi had promised to provide 1 crore jobs every year if his party comes to power. People trusted him with massive mandate and below is the status report of his promise on jobs:

Status: One of the biggest failure of the Narendra Modi government. Unemployment rose to the highest since last 45 years, according to a National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report withheld by the government.

Promise: The BJP had promised to build a number of smart cities across the country. Time to time, we saw the Modi government releasing a list of cities it has selected to implement the project. But has Modi delivered on this promise?

Status: We all know the answer as it is visible to all. Our cities are by and large same as they were in 2014. No one from the BJP is talking about the promise in their 2019 election campaign. Most of the funds announced for the project were not spent.

Promise: Construction of a grand Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. This was again one of the biggest election issue in 2014. The saffron party was given an unprecedented mandate by the people of Uttar Pradesh as many Hindus believed that Modi will do what no one else could do. He will construct a Ram Temple – a religious issue close to the hearts of many Hindus in Uttar Pradesh.

Status: Not built, promise still remains unfulfilled.