NEW DELHI: Congress on Thursday said the Prime Minister’s credibility had taken a beating after his statement on Dadri lynching and banning of Ghulam Ali concert even as it dubbed as “perverse and cynical” the finance minister’s reaction that writers were manufacturing a protest.

A day after Narendra Modi dubbed as “unfortunate and undesirable” the lynching of a Muslim in Dadri, AICC spokesman Anand Sharma said, “It is not adequate to reassure the country and the world… the PM was complicit by his silence for long and it was because of national pressure and mounting international criticism that he has spoken just two words.”

About Modi dubbing it a law and order issue under state’s purview, Sharma said, “It is not merely a law and order issue, it is a well orchestrated, planned campaign to polarize in furtherance of a diabolical agenda of the so-called Hindutva forces to create an environment of fear and to suppress dissent.”

Congress also criticized finance minister Arun Jaitley for attacking writers who are returning awards by calling their action a “manufactured paper rebellion” and “politics by other means”.

“Jaitley’s statement is perverse and cynical. He is targeting those who have made notable contribution for which they are celebrated nationally and globally. There cannot be a greater insult,” Sharma said.

He argued that the writers are not aligned politically but believe in free of expression. “It is expected of the government to listen to what they are saying but this government is bent upon encouraging the forces which we can call as divisive with an agenda which will undermine the very idea of India,” the spokesperson said.