New Delhi, May 26: The Congress today decried the Narendra Modi government's second anniversary celebrations, saying it had achieved little else other than creating social tensions and fooling people.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said: "This has been the most disappointing government in history... thriving on hollow promises and publicity. But people who suffer know more. Youths know there are no jobs, women are facing violence.... The government is living with lies. Let them give advertisements, people can't be mislead always."

Azad added that "farmers are committing suicide, rural distress is at its peak, minorities are living in fear". "New social tensions have emerged; patriotism of all those who disagree with the government is being questioned. There is a crackdown on universities. Foreign tours are being used for sight-seeing; nobody knows what our foreign policy is. Modi is sending shawls, sweets, mangoes to Pakistan and attending birthday and marriage parties. In return, our premier airbase is attacked. Tension with China has increased."

Former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid weighed in on the theme in a newspaper article, accusing the government of promoting a cult of violence, as manifested in incidents like "lynching to trolling" and "arms training to Bajrang Dal". "... fire is burning slowly but viciously within the society and the public institutions. Vicious media trials and public prejudging of political rivals in and outside the country are happening at the highest levels..."

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who was present at the special news conference with Azad, asked "what the celebrations are for". "Have achhe din (good days) come? Have farmers stopped (committing) suicides? Have they got cost plus 50 per cent profit as promised by Modi? Manmohan Singh rarely spoke but his work talked. Modi talks ceaselessly but never works. The sensex was at 8,000 in 2004 when Manmohan took over. In 2014 when he left, sensex was at 24,000. In two years, it is at 25,600, up by 2 per cent. We gave 12 lakh jobs in 2009, last year 1.34 lakh jobs were given. The promise was one crore every year."

The Congress's leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, recalled the unfulfilled promises and the alleged failure in tackling quota riots in BJP-ruled Haryana and Gujarat. He also referred to the unrest in universities and tensions in society and said: "Desh mange hisaab/kiska saath, kahan vikas (The country wants answers, together with whom? where is the development?)." The Congress will release on Saturday a booklet listing the government's failures.

At the news conference, short films were shown on subjects ranging from foreign policy to black money and price rise to failure in job-creation. The Congress leaders asked whether the grand anniversary celebrations meant that promises made two years ago had been fulfilled.

The films, using the Modi's pet catchphrase "Abki baar (this time, Modi government)", lampooned his 2014 election pledge of ushering in "acchhe din" through ordinary characters who repeatedly cried "Abki baar/barbad ho gaye yaar (ruined this time)".

The films on 10 subjects are not highbrow and primarily target the masses, trying to send out a message that Modi fooled the nation by making false promises. They heap scorn on Modi's unfulfilled promise of depositing Rs 15 lakh in every bank account by getting back money stashed abroad and failure to pass on to consumers the windfall from cheap crude oil prices.

They also take a dig at his initiatives like Make-in-India, smart cities, price rise and moves to cut PF interest rates. Every film ends with the lament, "Abki baar, barbad kar diya yaar."

Sibal stressed that the Prime Minister hadn't answered a single question on corruption cases and irresponsible statements by his ministers despite delivering "a speech every 45 hours". "It is unfortunate that a BJP Rajya Sabha member attacks RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, who is held in high esteem across the world, but the Prime Minister remains silent. On every important crisis, he chose to remain silent," Sibal said, alluding to Subramanian Swamy's attacks on Rajan. The Congress's official Twitter handle lists crucial issues on which Modi has been silent.