Bhubaneswar: Former Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar on Sunday slammed the Narendra Modi government for misleading people and making false promises.

Speaking on "Manifestation of perfection: Idealism in politics", a memorial lecture of the Rajkishore Nayak National Foundation, Sarkar, without naming Modi government, said: "When the government came to power four years back, it had promised to transfer Rs 15 lakh in the account of each citizen. Can anyone here tell me whether Rs 15 lakh has been deposited in his account? Even the list of those who have black money has not been released. Now, the national president of the ruling party at the Centre says it's a jumla."

Terming demonetisation as a myopic move, Sarkar maintained how sudden implementation of GST had broken the backbone of small business establishments.

Lashing out at the BJP, the former CM said in his sarcastic best: "Before coming to power, we dish out promises and after assuming power we will change our tone." He asked the people to be "careful about these opportunists".

Saying that price rise had become the norm, Sarkar said: "Unemployment is a bigger issue now. They spoke about giving employment to two crore people, but failed to provide even two lakh jobs. Even the rising cases of farmer suicides have not been addressed. MSP also remains a burning issue."

Accusing the Modi government of trying to divide the country on the basis on religion, language and caste, he said: "Talking of idealism and putting things into practice are two different things. Before Independence we had set a different goal for us and after we assumed power, the successive governments had failed to achieve it. Those who were in power have failed to implement things in the right way."

Speaking on the need for an alternative agenda, Sarkar said: "Health and education are two essential things for developing human resources. But it is in their (Centre's) list of priorities. Even the budgetary allocation has dropped and they are going ahead with their plan to privatise these two key sectors." It's time to protest, he said.

On this occasion, Sarkar inaugurated "Sayanhara Smruti", a biography of former MLA and the late Gandhian Rajkishore Nayak. Nayak's wife Nirmalaprava has penned the biography.

In his speech, former IAS officer Sitakanta Mohapatra slammed political parties for deviating from the path of idealism.

Freedom fighter Bhabani Charan Patnaik, writer Gourahari Das and Nayak's son Atanu Sabyasachi was also present on the occasion.