Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has alleged that the Congress makes false promises in its manifesto to win votes and noted that perusal of promises made by the party in its 2004 and 2009 manifestos highlights its tendency to "lie and cheat voters"."It has been their practice to deceive and mislead the public with false promises which they have neither the intention nor any plan to fulfil since the first Lok Sabha elections in 1951-52," Goyal said in a statement to IANS.He said the Congress promised direct income support to farmers in 2004 and 2009, but "it did nothing about it when it came to power"."It is the BJP which delivered on that promise by introducing PM KISAN Yojana under which poor farmers are getting Rs 6,000 per year," the Minister said.He reminded that the Congress made promises to extend reservations to the economically deprived persons belonging to communities that were not entitled to reservations earlier, in 2004 as well as 2009."But once they (Congress) were in power, they paid no attention to the issue," Goyal said.
"It is our government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that has given 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker sections of society without affecting the existing reservations including to SCs/STs and OBCs."He also attacked the Congress on its promise to ensure that each household gets full access to reliable power in the next three to five years in their 2004 manifesto which was to be completed by 2009. The Minister pointed out that crores of households were without electricity in 2014.
"Today, remaining 18,000 unelectrified villages have been electrified under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, and under the Saubhagya Yojana for free electricity connections, 99.9 per cent willing households have now got access to electricity," Goyal said.He said that the Congress has betrayed the armed forces and retired servicemen who sacrifice their lives for the security of the nation by making false promises of bringing One Rank, One Pension scheme for the Army personnel. One Rank, One Pension was ultimately fulfilled by the Modi government, the Minister said. He commented that the Congress, in fact, promised to tackle the root causes of corruption and the generation of black money in 2004. "This was a laughable promise as every possible corruption took place in their regime, whether it be 2G spectrum scam, coal scam, AgustaWestland or Commonwealth Games scam," he said, adding that the public punished them for their misdeeds, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had ensured the highest standards of transparency and accountability."Congress had also promised to revive the economy and restore high growth, but as we all know, India was labelled a 'Fragile Five' economy due to their economic mismanagement," Goyal said. "They promised to maintain fiscal prudence and low inflation, but inflation was in double digits and fiscal deficit crossed 6 per cent under their regime."He said that the Congress had failed to deliver its promise to connect all villages to broadband network. Only 59 Gram Panchayats were connected with broadband by 2014, while after 2014, Modi government connected 1.19 lakh Gram Panchayats."Congress even made the promise of zero-tolerance towards terrorism from whatever source it originates," Goyal said in the statement, adding that on the contrary, they were soft on terror and even withdrew the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA)."Even in their 2014 manifesto they planned to weaken this fight with promises of providing bail and removing the sedition law," Goyal said."Congress Party has deceived people of India in the past and they are doing the same again with their tall promises in 2019." He said that the BJP is the party of performance which has served the people and made real transformation possible.