Digvijaya Singh's advice to Narendra Modi: 'Do soul-searching on...'

Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh has advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do some “soul-searching” because the latter's “political history is based on the Hindu-Muslim dispute”.

Digvijaya Singh, who is the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, asked the Prime Minister to contemplate the result of his alleged narrative.

“If you look at the political history of Modi ji, it is based on the Hindu-Muslim dispute. It would be better if Narendra Modi does some soul-searching as to who is benefiting from it and who all are suffering due to it,” Digvijaya Singh told PTI.

Digvijaya Singh, who is the Congress candidate from the Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, said he wasn't satisfied with the Supreme Court's EVM order.

Singh accused the BJP of contesting the elections on caste and religion lines. He said the polls weren't being fought on the basis of real issues, reported the news agency.

He also tried to punch holes in BJP's Gujarat mode of development.

"If you look at the Human Development Index (HDI) of Gujarat, then you will find that it doesn't even figure among the top 10 (states) in the country," he added.

Digvijaya Singh claimed that the EVMs had a role in BJP's electoral success.

"If you look at 2014 and 2019, whatever figure they gave, they crossed it. In 2014, they gave the slogan of '272 paar' and won 284 seats. Similarly, in 2019, they gave the slogan '300 paar' and won 303 seats," he claimed.

Last month, the Supreme Court termed the suspicion of manipulation of EVMs unfounded as it dismissed the demand for returning to the old paper ballot system.

Digvijaya Singh, however, raised doubts over the EVM. He also claimed that votes were not getting registered in EVMs.

On the low voter turnouts, Digvijaya Singh said: “Firstly, the people have doubts about whether their vote is getting registered at the right place in the EVM. Secondly, there is a lot of pressure on the people to vote and that's why they have no interest in voting.”

Digvijaya Singh is contesting the Rajgarh seat against BJP's Rodmal Nagar.

Voting in Rajgarh will take place during the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, on May 7.