Sitharaman slams Congress for 'spreading lies' about Agniveer, Ayodhya and EVMs

Sitharaman alleged that Congress had 'spread falsehoods' on many issues, including the compensation given to people in Ayodhya for land acquired, the Agnipath scheme for short-term military recruitment and electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Chandigarh: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accused the Congress on Sunday of "spreading lies and creating a false narrative" against the BJP-led Centre, and asked the party workers to counter this "falsehood" with facts and data.

Sitharaman said this while addressing a meeting of the Chandigarh BJP state executive. Later, she also held a meeting with traders to understand their issues and know their demands.

Referring to the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said the Congress has now failed to touch the 250-seat mark in the last 10 general elections.

"Even then, they have an artificial confidence," she said while pointing towards the Congress's performance in the last 10 Lok Sabha polls.

"The INDI alliance, comprising 13 political parties, could manage to win just 232 seats, while the BJP on its own won 240 seats," Sitharaman said.

She also pointed out that the Congress could not win a single seat in 14 states in this year's Lok Sabha election.

The finance minister accused the Congress of "spreading lies" and trying to twist certain statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Union minister Nitin Gadkari in order to create a "false narrative".

Slamming the Congress for its "lies", she alleged that the opposition party tried to "spread falsehood" on many issues, including the compensation given to people in Ayodhya for their land acquired for building the Ram temple, the Agnipath scheme for short-term military recruitment and electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Sitharaman said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself had stated that his government had given a total compensation amount of Rs 1,733 crore for the land acquired for the Ram temple.

She also accused the Congress of giving false statements against the Agnipath scheme.

"We should seriously understand the strategy of the Congress. Attempts are being made to attack the BJP by making wrong statements, spreading lies and creating a false narrative," the finance minister said.

She said every "false statement" the opposition party spreads, even on social media, should be countered instantly with facts and data.

Further taking on the Congress, Sitharaman said the opposition party and its sympathisers went to courts against several decisions taken by the Centre in the last 10 years, including those related to the Ram temple, abrogating the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir, demonetisation, the Central Vista project, the appointment of the chief election commissioner, the National Education Policy and the Mumbai metro project.

On the conduct of Congress leaders in Parliament, she said they raise questions in the House but when ministers give replies to those questions, they stage a walkout.

"That is not the role of a constructive opposition," she said.

The Union minister said Modi got the mandate to form the government for a third straight time in the Lok Sabha polls.

Similarly, the Congress got less than 100 seats for playing the role of a responsible opposition, she added.

"The Congress must understand that like people give votes to form the government, they gave them votes to remain in the opposition," she said.

But the Congress is yet to understand this, she asserted.

Sitharaman said the government has announced that June 25, the day when the Emergency was declared in 1975, would be observed as "Samvidhan Hatya Diwas".

"It will remind people of what happened on June 25, 1975 and why did it happen," she said, adding that every opposition leader was put in jail during that period.

The Union minister asserted that the country is moving forward. "We have very good growth in every sector," she said.