New Delhi: Statewide caste survey, legal guarantee for MSP, cheaper LPG and increased pensions are among promises made by the Congress in its manifesto for the Haryana assembly polls released Wednesday. The 53-page manifesto was unveiled by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi. Kharge also announced seven guarantees for voters in Haryana on behalf of the state Congress.
“We will implement these guarantees, and that’s why we have called them ‘Saat Vaade, Pakke Iraade (seven promises, firm intentions)’. Our manifesto is 53 pages, and we will definitely fulfil these promises. We are making this announcement from the AICC office, and I would just like to say that we have divided these promises into seven categories, keeping the budget in mind,” he said.
Alongside him were Haryana Congress president Chaudhary Udai Bhan, former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda, four-time MLA Geeta Bhukkal and Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal. Also present were former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, AICC treasurer Ajay Maken and Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Partap Singh Bajwa—all three appointed observers for Haryana by the AICC last week.
Addressing the gathering, Udai Bhan said the Haryana Congress manifesto committee chaired by Bhukkal put together the seven promises after consulting manifestos from across the length and breadth of India.
In addition to the seven promises, the Congress has also promised to build a memorial in honour of farmers who were ‘martyred’ during the year-long agitation against the Centre’s now-withdrawn farm laws and government jobs for the next of kin of the deceased farmers.
Congress’s 7 guarantees for Haryana
• Monthly assistance of ₹2,000 to women between the ages of 18 and 60; and LPG cylinders at ₹500 apiece.
• Monthly assistance of ₹6,000 for the elderly, widows and persons with disabilities; reinstatement of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for government employees.
• Legislation to provide permanent government jobs to 2 lakh youngsters; ensuring an ‘addiction-free’ Haryana.
• Free electricity up to 300 units; medical treatment of up to ₹25 lakh.
• A 100-gaj plot (1 gaj is 9 square feet) or two-room house to be built at a cost of ₹3.5 lakh for those under the poverty line.
• Legal guarantee for MSP; immediate clearance of dues and compensation owed to farmers.
• A statewide caste survey; lifting ‘creamy layer’ income cap for OBC reservations to ₹10 lakh.
हरियाणा के लिए कांग्रेस पार्टी के 7 वादे, पक्के इरादे!
हरियाणा के हर तबके के कल्याण के लिए कांग्रेस पार्टी प्रतिबद्ध है।#aarahihaicongress#7VaadePakkeIraade pic.twitter.com/0J09SCPakL
— Haryana Congress (@INCHaryana) September 18, 2024
‘Express engine’ vs ‘double-engine’
In his address, Kharge said Haryana is a developed state, but the ruling BJP ruined it by adhering to the Centre’s directions. “The BJP destroyed a state that was number one in the country. When I was railways minister, trains used two engines, one pulling forward and the other pushing from behind. Similarly, BJP’s double-engine government is operating here, but people have lost faith in this kind of governance,” he said.
The BJP has devastated Haryana since it first came to power in the state in 2014, alleged Kharge, while assuring voters that the Congress aims to bring in an ‘express engine’ in contrast to the BJP’s ‘double-engine’.
On removal of Manohar Lal Khattar as CM, Kharge said the Union minister who was at the helm of affairs in Haryana for nearly a decade, is now nowhere to be found. Khattar was removed because of his performance, he said, adding, “Modi ji only blesses those who bow down to him.”
The Congress president also credited Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra for turning the tide in favour of the party.
Continuing his attack on BJP, Kharge said, “The current BJP government operates like Doordarshan, showing only what Modi ji wants. Modi ji only meets those who are selected, including selected media and journalists.”
Reacting to the Congress’s 7 guarantees, the BJP termed them mere electoral gimmicks meant to mislead the public.
Ashok Chhabra, co-incharge of Haryana BJP’s media wing, told ThePrint that the Congress’s promise of two lakh government jobs is a “hollow pledge” and if put into action, will operate on a “parchi and kharchi” (bribery and favouritism) basis.
“The BJP also points to statements made by Congress candidates indicating that jobs and benefits would be given primarily to their own relatives and close associates, highlighting a potential preference for nepotism,” he said. The reference was aimed at purported videos of Congress candidates Neeraj Sharma (Faridabad NIT) and Shamsher Singh Gobi (Assandh) promising government jobs and other benefits to people on preferential basis. Hooda, however, had described their utterances as personal promises.
On the Congress’s other promises, Chhabra said, “BJP government in Haryana is already providing gas cylinders at this price to the poor and has taken solid steps to support farmers by purchasing 24 crops at MSP.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
