On Friday (January 6), Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was left red-faced after his political rhetoric backfired on him during a public meeting in the Panipat district of Haryana.
In a bid to mock the BJP government, Kharge asked his supporters whether the BJP honoured its supposed ‘poll promise’ of providing 2 crore jobs to the people. To his horror, the crowd responded with a ground-thumping ‘yes.’
At about 9 minutes into his speech, the Congress President asked, “(BJP said) that it will give 2 crore jobs to the youth each year. Did any of you get those jobs?” The Congress supporters, who had gathered to listen to Mallikarjun Kharge, cheered in affirmation.
The Congress president was taken aback by the response of the crowd. In a bid to undo the damage, Kharge remarked, “You must have got the jobs since you guys are fighters/ rowdies (ladaku log). As such, you must have been the beneficiaries.”
It must be mentioned that the BJP never promised to provide 2 crore jobs each year, either during its political campaigns or its election manifestos. The fake claim, often made by Congress leaders, is a distortion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2013 speech in Agra.
In the said speech, PM Modi can be seen lashing out at the Congress government for promising 1 crore jobs in its 2004 election manifesto and not delivering on its promise. He was misquoted by PTI, followed by publications such as The Economic Times and The Quint.
Over time, the 1 crore figure got modified to 2 crores, with the Congress ecosystem repeatedly accusing the saffron party of not providing jobs to people.
