Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday exhorted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek votes on the performance of his government in the past 10 years instead of indulging in “hate speeches”.

Accusing the PM of lying about the Congress manifesto (Nyay Patra), the Congress chief  challenged Modi to debate with the party’s manifesto.

In his three-page letter addressed to the PM, Kharge said, “I saw the letter written by you to all the NDA candidates about what they need to communicate to the voters. From the tone and content of the letter it seems that there is a lot of desperation and worry in you which is leading you to use language that does not suit the office of the PM. The letter makes it look like the lies in your speeches are not having the effect you intended and now you want your candidates to amplify your lies.”

He asserted that repeating a lie a thousand times will not make it the truth.

Referring to the Congress manifesto, the Congress president said, “The voters are intelligent enough to read and understand by themselves what the Congress has written in its manifesto and what guarantees we have promised. Our guarantees are so simple and clear that we don’t have to explain it to them.”

“In your letter you claim that reservation will be taken away from SC, ST and OBC and given to ‘our votebank’. Our votebank is every Indian – the poor, the marginalised, the women, the aspirational youth, the labour class, the Dalits and the Adivasis. Everyone knows it is the RSS and BJP which have opposed reservations at every stage since 1947. Everyone knows it is the RSS and BJP which wants to change the Constitution to end reservation,” he said.

The Congress chief added, “Your leaders have openly spoken about it. You need to clarify why you are opposed to reservation to SC, ST and OBCs on the basis of their population as per Article 16 of our Constitution.”

On allegations of appeasement politics against the Congress, Kharge said, “We have heard you and Home Minister (Amit Shah) say that Congress is practising appeasement politics. The only appeasement policy that we have seen in the last 10 years is the appeasement of Chinese by you and your ministers.”

On inheritance tax, he said, “Your letter lies that Congress wants to bring Inheritance tax when it is your former Finance Minister and your party leaders who have repeatedly mentioned they want inheritance tax.”

Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, further said, “You have said people’s hard-earned money will be snatched and given away. I would like to take this opportunity to request you to direct your party to return the Rs 10 crore that were swindled from the poor Dalit farmers in Gujarat and given as electoral bonds to BJP. Your party amassed Rs 8,250 crore through the ‘illegal and unconstitutional’ electoral bonds from various companies.”

“Our manifesto speaks of Nyay  and how we will bring growth for all sections of the society. It is better as the Prime Minister if you seek votes on the performance of your government over the last ten years instead of indulging in hate speeches. The Congress party would like to challenge you or anyone you depute to debate with us on our manifesto and the points you have made,” he said.

Kharge asserted that after elections are over, people will only remember him as the PM who indulged in “divisive and communal speeches filled with lies to avoid an inevitable defeat”.