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Updated: Apr 26, 2020 18:53 IST

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday hit out at the Congress party accusing it of proposing “Balkanisation of India” in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha election. Jaitley said the Congress’s manifesto has imprints of what he termed “tukde tukde gang”.

“Some of the ideas are positively dangerous in the Congress manifesto. They are for an agenda for the Balkanisation of India,” Jaitley said at a press conference in New Delhi.

The remarks came hours after the Congress released its manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls. The manifesto was prepared by a committee chaired by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

“The 2019 Congress Manifesto is a charter to weaken India. After reading Congress Manifesto my worst fears have come true. The repeal of Section 124A of the IPC, diluting AFSPA and “bail is the rule jail is the exception” for terrorists and hardcore criminals will compromise national security.”

WATCH: Some ideas in Cong manifesto ‘positively dangerous’: Arun Jaitley

Defending the promise on repealing the sedition law, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala urged the journalists to “start speaking” and ask questions.

Jaitley further said, “Even though there was a drafting committee, but it appears that some of the important points have been drafted by the Congress president’s friend in Tukde Tukde gang when it deals with Jammu and Kashmir.”

The senior BJP leader said the Congress’s promise of removing Indian Penal Code Section 124A is fraught with danger. “It was not even done by Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi or even Dr Manmohan Singh government,” he said.

“The Congress manifesto says IPC Section 124A will be scrapped. This means sedition will no longer be a crime. A party that makes such a promise does not deserve a single vote,” said Jaitley.

Also read:15 top promises in Congress manifesto for Lok Sabha polls

Coming down heavily on the Congress’s Nyuntam Aay Yojana or NYAY, which promises cash tranfer of Rs 72,000 annually to the 20 percent of the poorest families, Jaitley said it a big “Congress bluff”.

“Nyay, in the Manifesto, has now become a joint scheme of Central & the State govts. thereby diluting the initial announcement that Nyay will be over & above existing schemes. It is visible through Manifesto that “Nyay” is an all time big Congress bluff,” said Jaitley.

Countering Jaitley, Surjewala said that the BJP is hell-bent on demolishing NYAY as it belives in “anyay (injustice)”.

He then asked the press why were no questions asked when PM Modi promised Rs 15 lakh in every bank account and giving 2 crore jobs every year.

To Congress’s promise of simplifying the GST with single moderate rate of tax, Jaitley said,”This effectively means that luxury items, Aam Aadmi commodities, and food items, all should be taxed at the same rate. Rahul Gandhi got this wisdom from Singapore which has no poverty. So, the Manifesto does not care about the poor.”