Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he is an expert in telling lies and asked not to fall for BJP’s election promises as it never fulfilled commitments made to voters earlier.

Addressing a poll rally at Badhra in Charkhi Dadri, Kharge hit out at BJP over several issues, including demands for debt waiver and legal guarantee on MSP from farmers, and claimed people have made up their minds to bring the Congress to power in the state.

“Modi ji toh bharosa todne walo ka bhi sardar hai (Modi is the leader of those who break trust.) His numerous lies, promises, you know about them,” he said in the presence of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik.

Referring to Congress’ election promises in Haryana, Kharge said the party has given seven guarantees in its manifesto including Rs 2,000 per month for women and told Hooda, who was standing behind him, “You will have to keep my honour”.

“It is Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri’s birth anniversary today. Mahatma Gandhi taught us truth and non-violence. I don’t want to say this – how much truth and how much lies those in power speak,” he said.

The Congress chief said: “Under the Congress government, Haryana was number one in the country in per capita income, per capita investment, law and order, employment generation and sportspersons. But BJP made it number one in unemployment and inflation. The cost of farmers increased manifold but their income did not increase. In 10 years, BJP benefited the capitalists but exploited the farmers, small businessmen, labourers and youth.”

The grand old party has not named its chief ministerial candidate, but Hooda is a frontrunner for the post. The state will go for polls on Saturday.

Invoking Lal Bahadur Shastri’s “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” slogan, he said the BJP doesn’t “know about jawans or kisans”.

“They only know the RSS’ agenda. No one is a farmer in the RSS or BJP. This is why they don’t understand the pain of the farmers. They help people like Adani-Ambani and not farmers. They don’t give MSP guarantee, but Modi waives Rs 16 lakh crore debt of the rich,” he said and also criticised the Agnipath military recruitment scheme.

Political strategist Prashant Kishor on Wednesday announced the launch of his political outfit Jan Suraaj Party, a much-anticipated move by which he hopes to take the political landscape in Bihar by storm and promised to remove the liquor ban if elected to power in the state.

The party was launched at Veterinary College Ground in the state capital in the presence of many renowned figures, including former Union Minister Devendra Prasad Yadav, diplomat-turned-politician Pavan Varma and ex-MP Monazir Hassan.

“Today, all of you have come to discuss about the launch of a new party, about the prospects of a new future for your children from this land of knowledge and democracy. Be patient, listen to the speakers and spread the motto of this party everywhere,” Kishor said.

The party was floated exactly two years after Kishor had embarked on a more than 3,000-km-long ‘padayatra’ of the state, from Champaran where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the first Satyagraha in the country, in a bid to mobilise the people for a “new political alternative” that could cure Bihar of its chronic backwardness.

Speaking on the occasion, Kishor said the party has been active for the past two or three years and recently received approval from the Election Commission of India.

Attacking the previous government, the I-pac founder said that earlier governments had not given proper importance to the education system in the state, adding that he called for a significant overhaul education system.  

The Jan Suraaj Party founder said that Rs 5 lakh crore will be required over the next decade to achieve a world-class education system in the state.

Emphasising the liquor ban in the state, Kishor said, “When the liquor ban will be removed, that money won’t go into the budget and will not be used for the security of leaders, nor it will be used for roads, water and electricity. That will be used only for building a new education system in Bihar. Every year, Bihar is facing a loss of Rs 20,000 crore due to the liquor ban. He suggested that this could be directed toward educational reform.”

India expressed deep concern over the fresh escalation in the Middle East following Iran’s missile attacks on Israel. The Ministry of External Affairs stated that the conflict must not take a wider regional dimension while calling for restraint among parties. 

Issuing a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) underlined that the dialogue and diplomacy should be channelised to resolve all conflicting issues. The statement added that India is deeply concerned at the escalation of the security situation in West Asia and reiterates their call for restraint by all concerned and protection of civilians. 

The statement continued that it is important that the conflict doesn’t take a wider regional dimension and they urge that all issues be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy.

This statement follows a day after Iran, in an unprecedented attack on Israel, fired over 180 ballistic missiles on the Jewish nation. Reports stated that alarms sounded across Israel and explosions were heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley. Furthermore, Israelis piled into bomb shelters and reporters on state television lay flat on the ground during live broadcasts.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards said that hypersonic Fattah missiles were used for the first time, and 90 per cent of them hit their targets in Israel.

Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated that most missiles were intercepted by Israel and a defensive coalition led by the US. He tweeted that Iran’s attack is a severe and dangerous escalation.

Notably, the Middle East has been witnessing a tumultuous security situation for nearly one year after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking hostage over 200 others. The attack triggered the war in Gaza, which has killed over 41,000 people.