Saharanpur: Virtually equating the Congress with the Muslim League, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the grand old party’s election manifesto reflects the same thought as that of the Muslim League at the time of the freedom movement.

Prime Minister Modi said the Congress, which existed at the time of the freedom movement, has “ended decades ago”.

“A number of great personalities were associated with the Congress. The name of Mahatma Gandhi was associated with the Congress. The Congress, which is left today, neither has policies in the interest of the nation nor vision for the nation’s development,” Prime Minister Modi said.

“Yesterday, the kind of election manifesto was released, it has proved that today’s Congress is completely cut off from the hopes and aspirations of today’s India,” he added addressing an election rally in Saharanpur.

Sharpening his attack further, he said the Congress is not visible even remotely.

Prime Minister Modi also took a jibe at the Samajwadi Party, which is a member of the INDIA bloc and an election partner of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.

“The situation of SP (Samajwadi Party) in Uttar Pradesh is such that here they have to change their candidates every hour, whereas the situation of Congress is even more strange. The Congress is not getting candidates at all,” Prime Minister Modi said.

“Even on the seats, which the Congress considered as its stronghold, it is not able to muster the courage to field candidates,” he added apparently referring to the Congress strongholds of Amethi and Rae Bareli.

Prime Minister Modi said the “INDI alliance has become another name for instability and uncertainty”.

“That’s why today the country is not taking seriously even a single thing said by them,” he added.

Without taking the name of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Prime Minister Modi said, “You might remember here in Uttar Pradesh that the film featuring two boys (‘do ladke’), which had flopped last time, the film of two boys has been re-released by these people.” “I do not understand how many times will these INDI alliance members put the wooden pot (on fire)?” he added.

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party had also contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections together.

According to the election schedule, eight parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will vote in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19.

These are Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit.

The counting of votes will be held on June 4.