The first stage of Gujarat assembly elections will take place on Saturday and the ruling BJP has not released its manifesto, a road map on what it proposes to do if re-elected to power.
The topic has generated an intense conversation on social media, where hashtags such as #BJPKaManifestoKahanHai has been trending since last night.
Taking a dig, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi accused the saffron party of having insulted the people of Gujarat by not releasing its manifesto.
He wrote, “The BJP has shown unbelievable disrespect towards the people of Gujarat. Campaign is over and STILL no mention of a manifesto for the people, no vision and no ideas presented for Gujarat’s future.”
The BJP has shown unbelievable disrespect towards the people of Gujarat. Campaign is over and STILL no mention of a manifesto for the people, no vision and no ideas presented for Gujarat’s future. #BJPDisrespectsGujarat
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 7, 2017
On Twitter, Congress leaders, journalists and members of civil society appeared to agree with him with some even arguing that the reason for not releasing the manifesto was to hide BJP’s embarrassment on several instances of corruption including Rafale Expose and lack of governance in gujarat during the party’s 22 years of rule.
Here are some of the reactions;
BJP has not even bothered to produce in front of the voters a manifesto or vision for Gujarat.This is because
1. Vikas was never their agenda
2. They don’t want to answer questions about 2012 promises
3. They have realised that their defeat is certain— Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) December 7, 2017
Btw the BJP hasn’t released a manifesto for Gujarat elections. Is this a first for a national party?
— Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) December 7, 2017
Finally and officially,BJP skips Manifesto or Vision Document for Gujarat Election..Time Over
— Narendra nath mishra (@iamnarendranath) December 7, 2017
BJP’S Manifesto? Can’t talk about Vikas,Guj model,Kala Dhan,Corruption, Noteban,GST anymore? But you can talk about Shahzada’s 50K times growth or about ‘huge gas’ from GSPC or about Rafale deal? Or only about Babar, Aurangzeb, Hardik CD & Rahul not Hindu? https://t.co/w9FlVNEoAH
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) December 8, 2017
Amid all the #neech talk, one important fact missed. Why no manifesto or vision document by the BJP for Gujarat? How would the voters know that if voted to power, what the party has in store for them?
— Akhilesh Sharma (@akhileshsharma1) December 7, 2017
BJP is So Smug that it Hasn’t Even Released a Manifesto for Gujarat?
Smug About What❓
Empty Chairs❓
Or Rigging the #LotusVotingMachine ❓#BJPDisrespectsGujarathttps://t.co/yl56LMWxf2 via @ThePrintIndia
— Geet V (@geetv79) December 7, 2017