Cong reaches out to women with 5 promises
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday announced five key poll sops for women, including ₹1 lakh annual aid for the poorest and 50% reservation in government jobs, as part of its “Nari Nyay Guarantee” for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Making the announcement in a video on X, Mallikarjun Kharge said the promises will be fulfilled if the Congress comes to power at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls.
“Women are half the population of our country, but it grieves me to say that they have not got anything in the last 10 years. The Modi government has only increased their troubles. The only work that has been done is politics in the name of women and taking votes from them. Whether that is the ‘jumla’ of women’s reservation, inflation, record unemployment or increasing crime, all of these issues have the greatest impact on women. The Modi government has completely failed on all of these. That is why the Congress announces the Nari Nyay Guarantee today,” he said.
The five key promises are “Mahalaxmi guarantee”, “Aadhi Aabadi Poora Haq”, “Shakti Ka Sammaan”, “Adhikar Maitri” and “Savitribai Phule” hostels.
Under “Mahalaxmi guarantee”, an annual financial assistance of ₹1 lakh each will be given to women from economically weaker families; the “Shakti ka Samman” guarantee promises to double the Centre’s contribution to salaries of ASHA, Anganwadi and midday meal workers; while the “Aadhi Aabadi Poora Haq” guarantees 50% reservation for women in all government jobs. The party has also promised appointment of a paralegal, i.e. legal assistant, in every panchayat in the form of “Adhikar Maitri” to raise awareness among women about their rights and provide necessary help. Finally, the “Savitri Bai Phule” guarantee envisages setting up at least one working women’s hostel in all district headquarters across India and the number of these hostels would be doubled across the country.
Urging the people to support the Congress in this “fight to save democracy and the Constitution”, Kharge asserted that the party’s guarantees are “pathar ki lakeer” (set in stone) and not a “jumla”.
“Our words are set in stone. This is our record from 1926 until now, when our opponents were being born, we were making manifestos and fulfilling those declarations.”
Later in the day, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, too, made the same announcements at a women’s rally in Dhule district of Maharashtra as part of his ongoing “Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra”.
Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, Gandhi claimed that women had been fooled over reservation (in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies) as implementation of the bill pertaining to it will take after 10 years.
“Our government will immediately implement women’s reservation,” he said.
Women are half the population of our country, but it grieves me to say that they have not got anything in the last 10 years. MALLIKARJUN KHARGE, INC president