Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said the central government had failed abysmally to match its words with deeds and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's electoral promises were nothing more than "hawa baazi" (hot air)."The Modi government has failed abysmally to match words with deeds, match media events with actual accomplishments and match headlines with substance," Gandhi said while addressing a Congress working Committee meeting."The economy is on a downslide while prices continue to rise," she said.Gandhi also took a dig at the government's U-turn on the land bill."The U-turn on the land bill is evidence that the Narendra Modi government is out of touch with the ground realities. It has become painfully clear that most of the pledges made by the prime minister during his election campaigns are nothing more than hawa baazi," the Congress president said.Terming the NDA government's land bill "draconian", Gandhi accused the central government of disregarding the will of parliament.
"The Modi government first promulgated a draconian land ordinance. For reasons best known to it, the government chose to disregard the will of parliament and displayed an inexplicable hurry to snatch land from our farmers," she said.Gandhi also thanked party workers and farmers for putting up a strong opposition to the land bill."Thanks to our party's sustained campaign, the government has been compelled to withdraw its anti-farmer amendments. The credit for this goes to every Congress worker who, under (party vice president) Rahul Gandhi's active guidance, carried out a sustained agitation," she said.She said all like-minded parties and members of civil society joined hands with the Congress against the government's land bill.She said similar campaigns are now needed to be mounted against the assault on tribal welfare, on women and child welfare, on labour laws, on laws that protect the environment and forests, on RTI and on our flagship initiatives MGNREGA which are being systematically undermined.
She also accused the central government of eroding the autonomy and integrity of vital institutions."History is sought to be rewritten, specially with targeting of (former prime minister) Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India and builder of democratic institutions," she said.Gandhi also charged that the Modi government was controlled by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.She shared her concerns over ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir and the security situation in the state.She said: "Our soldiers and civilians are being increasingly targeted. Instead of a coherent policy on Pakistan, this government can't seem to make up its mind on what it should do."