New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his “redistribution of wealth” remarks targeting the party, saying after facing “disappointment” in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, the PM has now resorted to “lies” and “hate speech” to divert people from the real issues.

The opposition party’s attack came after Prime Minister Modi suggested that if the Congress comes to power, it would redistribute wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh’s remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country’s resources.

Addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara, Modi alleged the Congress plans to give people’s hard-earned money and valuables to “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”.

Hitting back at the PM, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that in the history of India, no prime minister has lowered the dignity of his post as much as Modi.

“Today, Modi ji’s desperate speech showed that INDIA is winning the first phase. What Modi ji said is definitely a hate speech, but it is also a deliberate ploy to divert attention,” Kharge said Today, the prime minister did what he has got in the values of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he said.

“Lying for power, making false references to things and making false allegations against opponents is the specialty of the Sangh and the BJP’s training,” he alleged.

Kharge said that 140 crore people of the country will no longer fall prey to such “lies”.

“Our manifesto is for every Indian. It talks about equality for all. Talks about justice for all. The Nyaya Patra of Congress is based on the foundation of truth, but it seems that the chair of the dictator like Goebbels is now shaking,” Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that after facing “disappointment” in the first phase of voting, “the level of lies of Narendra Modi has fallen so much that he now wants to divert the people from the issues as he is rattled”.

The trends of immense support for Congress’ “revolutionary manifesto” have started emerging, Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

“The country will now vote on its issues, vote for its employment, its family and its future. India will not be diverted,” the former Congress chief said.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also slammed Modi, saying that instead of answering a single question on issues related to youth, women, farmers, Dalits, and backwards, the prime minister “shamelessly lied” and made “insulting” statements in his rallies in Rajasthan to divert attention from the real issues .

“What we do know is that the first phase has been very bad for them (BJP). But perhaps the situation is much worse than what we estimate. It seems that the Prime Minister has lost his mental balance due to the frustration and disappointment of losing power,” Ramesh said in a post in Hindi on X.

“Remember: BJP ‘dakshin mein saaf, uttar mein half’ (BJP wiped out in the South and its tally half in the North),” the Congress leader said.

Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera accused the PM of “lying”.

“We challenge the Prime Minister to show if Hindu-Muslim is written anywhere in our manifesto. This kind of shallow mindset is in your political values,” Khera said.

“We have talked about justice for youth, women, farmers, tribals, middle class and workers. Do you have any objection to this also?” he said, slamming the PM.

In his remarks in Rajasthan, Modi said, “The Congress manifesto says they will calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, get information about it and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom – Manmohan Singh’s government had said that Muslims have the first right on the country’s assets.” “Earlier, when their (Congress) government was in power, they had said that Muslims have the first right on the country’s assets. This means to whom will this property be distributed? It will be distributed among those who have more children,” the prime minister said.

The Congress has asserted that its manifesto does not talk about “redistribution” and that it favours a “comprehensive socio-economic caste census”.