Why are women thronging the Bengaluru General Post Office?
Rumours tied to the opposition’s election promises have prompted several women to visit Bengaluru's GPO to open India Post Payments Bank accounts.
Khatakhat (swiftly), the phrase used by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh is the new buzzword in political circles used to describe how fast a Congress-led government, if elected to power on June 4, can deliver services to voters.
In Bengaluru, hordes of women have seemingly already taken up the Congress party on their assurances, with crowds thronging the usually quiet General Post Office (GPO) on the Raj Bhavan Road over the past few days to open an account with the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB).
The rush to open these accounts began after people fell for rumours assuring voters of deposits into their IPPB accounts if the INDIA bloc comes to power at the Centre. As a part of its manifesto for the general elections, the Congress has promised to launch the Mahalakshmi scheme under which ₹8,500 will be directly credited into the account of women heads of families belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.
Addressing election rallies in Bihar on Monday, Gandhi assured that women would receive deposits into their account, provided the INDIA bloc comes into power in June. “From July, ₹8,500 will be deposited in women's accounts every month. This will change the financial condition of every family," he said.
Since then, the Congress’ poll pitch has made the rounds in Bengaluru, leading to women rushing to open IPPB accounts, even as word spread that May 28 was the last date for having an account. However, HM Manjesha, chief postmaster, Bengaluru General Post Office, dismissed the assurances terming them as “rumours”. “We have informed the customers that the department will not pay any amount to them. In spite of this, they are eager to open an IPPB account. IPPB accounts can be opened at any post office across the country and there is no last date for opening it,'' he said.
As most of the women are from minority communities, appeals had been issued in both print and digital Urdu media, imploring them not to fall for rumours as no money would be credited after opening an account, postal authorities said.
Manjesha added that around 60 accounts were being opened daily on average across Bengaluru. “Now, around 700 to 800 accounts are being opened due to the heavy demand in the GPO alone. Special arrangements have been made and eight postmen have been deputed to assist in opening the account,” Manjesha said.
“Over the last 10 days, almost 2,000 accounts have been opened every day. Today (May 30), we had women queuing up again to open accounts. Since our transactions are limited to opening 2,000 per day, we sent back 1,000 women by giving them tokens with which they can open the accounts on Friday,'' he added.
BJP-Congress war of words over poll assurances
Reacting to women falling prey to rumours, BJP state spokesperson S Prakash said, “Gandhi is not even sure of becoming the opposition leader in the new government after June 4. And here he is giving false assurances of money flowing ‘thak a thak’ into the bank accounts of women.''
Ramesh Babu, Congress party’s Karnataka media in-charge, said that the Congress has promised ₹one lakh to women in poor families under the Mahalakshmi scheme. “Social media is a handy tool to spread rumours, over which no political party has any control. But the rush to open accounts is an indication that the lower income group has belief in the Congress,'' he said.
The IPPB scheme was launched in 2018 and a customer has to deposit ₹200 to open an account. A customer can use this account for online fund transfers, bill payments, recharge and direct benefit transfers among other services. Aadhaar card number and mobile number are mandatory for opening an IPPB account.
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