In Manipur, Prime Minister Modi Slams the Congress with a ‘Mr. 10%’ Jibe

While the prime minister did not mention the man by name, he was referring to a three-time Congress Chief Minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi revived his jibe first from the state’s 2017 assembly elections as he launched the BJP’s campaign for phase 2 of polls in Manipur. He told a virtual poll rally that whenever the state’s Congress was in charge, the state’s primary leader was known as “Mr 10% percent” While PM Modi did not name the leader by name, it is widely interpreted as an implicit reference to alleged corruption levelled against three-time Congress Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh.

The BJP had charged Mr Singh of pocketing 10% of all government projects he sanctioned during the run-up to the earlier assembly elections. There were also suspicions that only those who could pay huge bribes would be given government posts, therefore favouring only the 10% of the population who could pay it.

The former Chief Minister is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on suspicions of money laundering and misappropriation of government funds. He, on the other hand, has denied the charges.

The PM made various serious claims of corruption as well as sectarianism against the grand old party, even accusing it of igniting insurgency.”Congress did not develop Manipur. It kept Manipur away from peace, encouraged militancy, and widened the hill-valley divide in the state. [Former PM] Atal Bihari Vajpayee had set up a dedicated department for the northeast, but they made it inactive when the UPA came to power in 2004. With the weakening of Congress, their divide and rule policy has also weakened in Manipur,” the PM added.

He said that the BJP was urging its cadre to visit the hills and villages to communicate with the public and that his party and its partners would regain power with a landslide victory.

The PM asserted, as he had in previous rallies within a state that bandhs and blockades that hampered the state’s development had become a thing of the past under the BJP’s rule.”This is the decade of development, and the state is rapidly moving forward towards that,” he said.