Congress running disinformation campaign against PM Narendra Modi: BJP

NEW DELHI: Hitting back at Congress over its attack on the Narendra Modi government, BJP today accused it of running a "disinformation campaign", alleging that it had turned into a "machine of lies" and was harming India's image in its bid to target the Prime Minister.

BJP's counter-attack came after top leaders of the opposition party, including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi besides former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, hit out at the Centre over the "prevalent atmosphere of intolerance" at an event to mark the 125th birth anniversary of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

"Congress is an expert in running disinformation campaign and it is so much rattled by the good works of the Modi government that it has turned into a machine of lies. It has somewhat succeeded in harming India's image globally. But we are sure that it will not succeed in the long run.

"People saw governments of Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia-Manmohan for 16, 15, five and 10 years respectively . We are in power for the last 18 months only but have managed to create a positivity about the country everywhere. Congress is unable to tolerate it," BJP's media department in-charge Shrikant Sharma said.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi's attack on the Centre over the killing of two Dalit children in Haryana, Sharma cited figures to claim that the atrocities against Dalits across the country rose by almost three times during Congress reign while what happened in Haryana was due to family enmity.

He dismissed the ongoing protests by intellectuals against intolerance as a "Congress-sponsored campaign". "They had targeted Modi in Gujarat too when he was its Chief Minister. They are doing the same thing now. They will not succeed," he said.

Sonia had accused the Centre of using development as a buzzword to mask its communal agenda while people were being viciously attacked for holding different beliefs in a "prevalent atmosphere of intolerance".