There is nothing new in BJP's manifesto: Chidambaram

"There is nothing new in the manifesto. They have taken their ongoing programs, dressed them again and presented them as a new program. Show me one idea in the BJP manifesto that is a new idea, a path-breaking idea. There is nothing new," Chidambaram told ANI.

"For example, in the Minimum Support Price, they say that they will fix MSP from time to time at a reasonable rate. What is new about that. In minimum wage, they say, they will review minimum wage periodically and fix the minimum wage. What is new about that? There is nothing new," he added.

On the BJP's election promises of providing piped cooking gas to every village, Chidambaram said, "They will say they will supply piped cooking gas, to every village, which is what they are talking about. Has any BJP leader travelled to rural India in the last five to ten years? You don't even have a piped water supply in rural areas. Rural areas have access to drinking water either through taps, wells, or ponds; there are no pipe lines."

On BJP's dropping of the compilation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) from its manifesto, Chidambaram said that the opposition to NRC was such that they were obliged to drop it.

"There is so much opposition to the NRC that the BJP was obliged to drop it, but don't be misled by that drop. The NRC exercise in Assam turned out to be fiasco. At the end of the day, when the exercise ended, they found, themselves surprised that many Hindus had been left out of the NRC. In order to allow the Hindus to come into India, they created the Citizenship Amendment Act," he said.

"Now that they have CAA, which allows the Hindu migrants to enter or remain in India, they really have no need for the NRC," he added.

He said that the BJP's manifesto, especially on the Uniform Civil Code, will create divisions between communities in India.

"The BJP's manifesto, especially on the common civil code, will create divisions between one community and another, and these divisions will eventually lead to hate speeches, resentment, anger and conflict," he said. (ANI)