Picture : Twitter / ANI
With just nine days to go for the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha Polls on April 11, the Congress party has released its manifesto. The manifesto was released by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Present on the occasion were other top leaders like former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, former party president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former finance Minister P Chidambaram. Communications-in Charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, A K Antony among others.
P Chidambaram asserted that “wealth and welfare” is the manifesto’s central theme. He said real issues in the country are unemployment, farmer distress and women’s safety among others and accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to take narrative to hyper nationalism.
Dr Manmohan Singh said , said the manifesto’s purpose is to spell out the vision for the country to move towards forward-looking and inclusive economy and polity.
Rahul Gandhi later at press conference said that if his party is elected to power, its government would spend 6 per cent of the GDP on education.
His party will work to unite the people, he said, accusing the Modi government of dividing the society and spreading hatred.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said that the PM had spoken about MGNREGA. He mocked and said it is a bogus and useless scheme. Today everyone knows how much it helped the country. So now we want to guarantee jobs for 150 days, instead of 100 days, under the scheme.
“There are 5 main themes in the Congress manifesto, first among them is minimum income scheme NYAY under which Rs 72,000 will be given to poorest. Jobs and farmer distress are key issues, there are 22 lakh government jobs lying vacant which we will fill up by March 2020.”
“When we started this process about a year back, I spoke to Mr Chidamabaram, Mr Gowda and gave two instructions. I said this is not a manifesto to be made in closed rooms but this should reflect the wishes of the people of India. I also said that whatever is going to be in this manifesto has to be truthful, I do not want a single thing in this manifesto that is a lie because we have been hearing large number of lies spoken everyday by our PM.
Our party workers when they take this manifesto to the people will find resonance with the people. The real issues are unemployment. Over 4 crore jobs were lost. The second issue is farmers’ distress, the average Indian farmer has a loan of a Rs 1 lakh. The third issue is women’s security. The manifesto when implemented by the Congress govt will create wealth and guarantee welfare. This is what the Congress govt under Rahul Gandhi will do,” Chidambaram said
