Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify his stand on the remarks made by his party MP Kangana Ranaut on farm laws, asking whether he is opposed to the comments or is upto some mischief.

BJP MP Ranaut had earlier made remarks calling for bringing back the three farm laws. “Farmers are a pillar of strength in India’s progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers,” she said.

The Mandi MP, however, on Wednesday took a U-turn and withdrew her remarks calling for bringing back the three farm laws and said those were her personal opinions and did not represent the party’s stand.

The Opposition party demanded that the actor-politician be expelled by the ruling party if it did not agree with her remarks.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also hit out at the BJP over Ranaut’s remarks and said the poll-bound states, including Haryana, would give a befitting reply to the ruling party.

The actor-politician said she must remember that she is not only an artiste but also a BJP member now and her statements should be in line with her party’s policies.

In a post in Hindi on X along with his video, Gandhi said, “Who is deciding the government’s policy? A BJP MP or Prime Minister Modi?”

“Even after the martyrdom of more than 700 farmers, especially the farmers of Haryana and Punjab, the BJP people are not satisfied. INDIA will not allow any conspiracy of BJP against our farmers to succeed — If any step is taken to harm the farmers, Modi ji will have to apologize again,” the Congress leader said.

The Congress on Tuesday shared on X a video in which Ranaut said in Hindi, “Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers’ interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.

In an apparent response to Ranaut’s remarks, Kharge said, “Even after the martyrdom of 750 farmers, the anti-farmer BJP and Modi government did not realize their grave crime! There is talk of re-implementation of the three black anti-farmer laws. The Congress Party strongly opposes this.”

The 62 crore farmers will not forget that the Modi government crushed the farmers under a vehicle, used barbed wire, teargas from drones, nails and guns against them, he said.

Amid row over Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s MUDA land allotment case, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Wednesday slammed the BJP and accused it of adopting insidious ways to destabilise and topple elected governments.

On Tuesday, the Karnataka High Court upheld the governor’s Thaawarchand Gehlot’s approval for an investigation against the Chief Minister in the case.

In a setback to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the court dismissing his petition challenging Governor Gehlot’s approval for a probe against him in the MUDA land allotment case, said the gubernatorial order nowhere “suffers from want of application of mind”.

“Now Karnataka. BJP’s insidious ways to destabilise and topple elected governments: Luring MLAs, misusing tenth schedule, instilling fear (ED, CBI) and governors acting beyond their constitutional responsibilities,” Sibal said in a post on X.

“Then say: For the BJP. Constitution means more than the Gita,” Sibal said in an apparent reference to BJP’s Kharkhauda candidate Pawan Kharkhoda’s reported remarks that for the BJP, the Constitution is holy scripture that means more than the Gita. 

The Karnataka Chief Minister had challenged the legality of Gehlot’s sanction for the investigation against him in the alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in a prime locality.

A bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna on Tuesday noted that the Governor did apply his mind in abundance and that the order (sanctioning prosecution) does not suffer from non-application of mind.

“There is no fault in the Governor’s actions. The facts narrated need investigation. The petition is dismissed,” the High Court said.

Subsequently, the court also dismissed a plea by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Chief Minister, to stay its order for two weeks. The HC judge said he could not stay his own order.

The Chief Minister, responding to the court’s verdict, underlined his confidence in the judicial system and said, “I believe in the law and the Constitution. The truth will finally win”.

Terming it a stunt, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said that ten years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government’s “Make in India” initiative has put a break in the country’s manufacturing sector.  

“10 years ago, PM Modi crafted the slogan of “Make in India” and claimed to build Aatmnirbhar Bharat,” Kharge said in his social media post on X.

Launched on September 25, 2014 by PM Modi, the campaign was to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development, protect intellectual property and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure in the country.

Hitting out at Prime Minister, the Congress chief said, “Contrary to BJP’s high decibel propaganda, India’s Manufacturing sector has got de-industralised due to Modi government’s flop policy initiatives.”

Pointing out five stark facts that made India miss the bus on manufacturing, Kharge said the average growth rate of the manufacturing sector between 2014-15 and 2023-24 is just 3.1% (BJP-NDA) whereas between 2004-05 and 2013-14, the average growth rate was 7.85% (Congress-UPA).

Comparing the Congress-led UPA term with BJP-led NDA term, Kharge said the number of employees in factories grew at 6.2% annually during the Congress-UPA regime, while under Modi government the growth fell spectacularly to just 2.8 per cent.

“Between 2011-12 and 2022, India’s manufacturing sector saw minimal growth in employment, increasing from 6 crore to merely 6.3 crore workers,” Kharge said. He added that the modest addition of 3 lakh jobs annually is insufficient, considering 1.5 crore youth enter the workforce every year.  

Citing an NSO report, the Congress chief said the share of employment in manufacturing accounted for 12.6 per cent of all workers (2011-12). “This declined to 10.9% (2020-21), before recovering a bit to 11.6% (2021-22),” he added.

He also pointed out that the share of manufacturing in India’s GDP has hit an all-time low of just 12.83% (2023), due to Centre’s policies. During the Congress-led UPA government, the same was 15.25% (2013), he compared.  

“PLI schemes have miserably failed in several sectors,” he said.  

The Congress chief said, “Sectors such as high-efficiency solar PV modules, advance chemistry cell (ACC) batteries, textile products, specialty steel, white goods and medical devices have failed to yield the claimed results.”

Most PLI schemes have garnered lukewarm and tepid response from the industry and experts have criticised the schemes for their poor design, lack of clarity and no real value addition, Kharge said.  

“Year after year, Modi government has sold stakes of even profit-making PSUs to PM Modi’s crony friends, thereby breaking the backbone of our Public sector,” Kharge alleged.

Instead of filling vacant government jobs, Modi government has eliminated 5.1 lakh posts, Congress chief Kharge slammed Centre.  

“Casual and contract recruitment in PSU’s has increased by a whopping 91per cent,” he said.  

“SC, ST, OBC posts have decreased by 1.3 lakh (2022-23),” Khage said.  

He said, “Overall there are 40% contractual employees in Indian factories (2021-22), this was just 5% (2013-14) during Congress-UPA.”  

With rampant joblessness, plunging exports and extinguishing savings, Modi government’s glitzy ads on “Make in India” cannot sugarcoat its colossal failures, the Congress chief said.