02 January,2026 04:38 PM IST | New Delhi | mid-day online correspondent
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday alleged that the Narendra Modi Government has failed to provide either clean water or clean air. File pic
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday alleged that the Narendra Modi Government has failed to provide either clean water or clean air, leaving the common people to suffer, and said the Prime Minister (PM) remained silent on deaths caused by contaminated water in Indore despite repeatedly highlighting flagship schemes, news agency PTI reported.
Kharge said PM Modi keeps trumpeting the Jal Jeevan Mission but has not spoken about the deaths linked to contaminated drinking water in Indore.
"Narendra Modi ji, who never gets tired of trumpeting the Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, is maintaining his usual silence on the deaths caused by drinking contaminated water in Indore," he said.
"This is the same Indore city that has clinched the 'Cleanest City' title for the eighth consecutive time in the central government's Swachh Sarvekshan survey. It's a shameful state of affairs that, due to the BJP's incompetence, people here are desperate for clean water," he said in a post in Hindi on X.
The Congress chief alleged that for the past 11 years, the country has been fed "long speeches, lies and deceit, empty promises, and boasts" about the so-called double-engine government, PTI reported.
"When ministers are questioned, they resort to abuses and intimidation. Drunk on the arrogance of power, they turn the tables on the journalists. The entire machinery swings into action to cover up the misgovernance of BJP governments," Kharge said.
He further claimed that government schemes were mired in corruption and irregularities, adding that 10 per cent of the Jal Jeevan Mission funds were earmarked for purifying contaminated water, PTI reported.
"The Modi government and the BJP have failed to provide either clean water or clean air to the country. The common people are the ones suffering," Kharge said.
At least 10 people have died in a diarrhoea outbreak caused by contaminated water in the Bhagirathpura area of Indore. On Thursday, Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Madhav Prasad Hasani said laboratory reports from a city medical college confirmed contamination of the drinking water supply due to a leakage in a pipeline, though he did not share detailed findings.
Officials said the leakage was detected in the main drinking water pipeline near a police outpost in Bhagirathpura, at a spot over which a toilet has been constructed. More than 1,400 people have been affected by vomiting and diarrhoea in the area over the past nine days.
(With PTI inputs)
