Quota, farmers in focus ofnew INDIA bloc promises
Flanked by alliance partners Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist, Congress chief Mallikarjuna Kharge released the “Ek Vote, Saat Guarantee’
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Tuesday released its manifesto for the upcoming Jharkhand assembly polls, pledging seven guarantees including a million job opportunities, a 1932 land record-based domicile policy, ₹2,500 for women and higher minimum support prices.
Flanked by alliance partners Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist, Congress chief Mallikarjuna Kharge released the “Ek Vote, Saat Guarantee’, underlining that the Congress and its allies have history of fulfilling all commitments they made to people in the past.
“This is an outline for giving direction to the state. We are in power now. Despite several challenges, INDIA alliance government led by me has drawn a line of development which is unprecedented. The opposition got maximum chance to rule, but they made the state directionless,” said chief minister Hemant Soren.
The manifesto promised to implement a 1932-land record based domicile (only who have name in land records up to 1932 would be considered as local), the Sarna code and the preservation of regional language, culture. The JMM and allies have been demanding a separate religious code for tribals in upcoming census. The Jharkhand assembly has passed a unanimous resolution for Sarna Code and sent to Centre
It promised ₹2,500 to all beneficiaries (women in age group 18-50) under the Maiyan Samman Yojna per month.
It pledged to increase the reservation of other backward classes from 14% to 27%, scheduled castes from 10% to 12% and scheduled tribes from 26% to 28% and said it will set up a department for welfare of backward classes.
It said if elected to power, it will provide 7kg ration to per person under the Food Security Act and gas cylinders at ₹450.
It promised to create one million jobs, family health insurance cover of ₹15 lakh, degree colleges in all blocks, medical, engineering college and university in all district headquarters and a ₹800 hike in the MSP of paddy.
Jharkhand votes in two phases -- 43 seats on November 13 and 38 on November 20. The INDIA bloc is vying to retain power in the state but is up against a stiff challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance.
While releasing the manifesto, Kharge hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The prime minister came here yesterday and said Kharge ji said something. The truth is we have delivered on all five promises we made in Karnataka. We provisioned ₹52,000 crore for it in budget and we have already spent ₹24,017 crore on it. Is this jumla? And Modi saying Kharge said this and that. Kharge told the truth. We are doing it Karnataka and we will implement on Jharkhand as well,” the Congress chief said.
Soren said the seven guarantees were a blueprint of the future of the state.
“Corona took away two years and then repeated conspiracies of the Opposition to topple the government. I still had one month left. Wonder why it was done early. This is first time after creation of the state. Still, we have drawn an outline for the state. We reached people who are still out of mainstream. And today there is excitement among people,” he added.
The list of seven guarantees include some old commitments, including the 1932 land record-based domicile policy, Sarna Code and increasing quota in jobs.
The Hemant Soren government passed bills December 2023 for both domicile policy and reservation, but these are pending approval of the governor. The Jharkhand assembly also sent a unanimous resolution on the Sarna code to be included in the decadal census to the Centre for implementation November 2021.
BJP spokesperson Ajay Sah said the INDIA bloc wasted time. “They could have simply reissued their 2019 manifesto, given that they have not fulfilled even a single promise from the previous manifesto. Key promises like OBC reservation, MSP for farmers, reduced gas cylinder prices, and others seem to be mere copies from BJP’s manifesto, lacking original commitments or fresh vision. Their campaign appears more focused on political calculations than on genuine promises for the people,” he added.