The Congress announced its electoral manifesto for the Karnataka assembly poll on Tuesday, with a strong emphasis on female and young voters. The leaders who released the manifesto included Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Karnataka Congress Chief DK Shivakumar, and senior politician Siddaramaiah.
The major announcements include 200 units of free electricity for every home, 2,000 rupees for each woman who is the family head as part of the Gruha Lakshmi initiative, and a stipend of 3,000 rupees for unemployed graduates for a period of two years.
Congress, meanwhile, made a false equivalence in its manifesto, vowing to ban Bajrang Dal on the lines of Islamist group PFI. It stated that it is dedicated to taking a resolute and unwavering stance against people and groups who ‘incite enmity among communities on the basis of caste and religion’. This is after the Centre last year imposed ban on the radical Islamic terrorist organization named the Popular Front of India (PFI).
#WATCH | Congress releases the party's manifesto for the #KarnatakaElections2023
— ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2023
Party president Mallikarjun Kharge, former Karnataka CM and LoP Siddaramaiah, party state president DK Shivakumar and other leaders are present on the occasion. pic.twitter.com/yMIdCZy0Km
“We believe that law and Constitution is sacrosanct and can not be violated by individuals and organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities. We will take decisive action as per law including imposing a ban on any such organisations,” read the party manifesto.
Hindu organizations slam Congress for comparing Bajrang Dal to PFI
Hindu organisations slammed the grand old party for making such unconscionable remarks in its poll manifesto and comparing Bajrang Dal to the PFI. Vinod Bansal, the national spokesperson of Vishva Hindu Parishad said that he was not completely surprised though as the remarks made by Congress were completely in sync with the party’s “Jihadi mindset.”
He further denounced the Congress for repeatedly seeking to humiliate Hindus in an effort to placate and pacify Islamists. He asserted that Congress had a track record of supporting jihadis and sheltering Islamist terrorists.
The VHP leader claimed that equating Bajrang Dal with PFI is the final nail in Congress’s coffin. “By making such reckless comments in the poll manifesto, the party has penned its own death warrant”, he said.
Old Pension Scheme may lead the state to bankruptcy
The Congress manifesto also promised Rs 5000 allowance for policemen on night duty, setting up of social harmony panels at panchayat level, free transport for women in state buses and establish 63 Kannada language and culture centres. The Congress has also promised setting up a dedicated fund of Rs 2,000 crore to modernise all the existing courts of the state. However, amongst these, one of the crucial promises made by the Congress remains extending the Old Pension Scheme which was discontinued on April 1, 2004 and replaced with the National Pension Scheme (NPS).
Notably, opposition-ruled states like Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Chhattisgarh have already reverted to the Old Pension Scheme and now it has emerged as a key poll issue ahead of the Karnataka assembly elections as well. But this might not be a feasible promise as the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) forced the state to bear the entire burden of the pensions.
NPS was developed to encourage people to participate in equity markets and rapidly expanding companies as well as to lessen the financial load on the federal government and the states. Parties with a short-term outlook, however, are keen to embrace the OPS’s guaranteed income since it is a potent instrument for winning over voters.
Everyone who works for the government would undoubtedly welcome the return of the OPS because they will have lifetime of income security. In addition, Dearness Allowance (DA), which is not paid under the NPS, would be paid by the government.
Reverting to OPS may win the support of government employees, but doing so now poses a danger to the states’ electoral prospects as they run the risk of going bankrupt while funding this scheme.
Gruh Jyoti: Congress’ duplicity of offering free units of electricity while hiking tariff rates
One of the much-touted schemes launched by the Congress party was granting 200 units of free electricity to all the houses. However, in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress-led state government hiked 86 paise per unit in power tariff for the financial year 2023-24 after promising free units of electricity.
Gruh Lakshmi: Rs 2,000 each month for every woman head of the family
The Congress government has announced Gruh Lakshmi, promising Rs 2,000 per month to every woman head of the family. However, the poll sop is a superfluous measure aimed at wooing voters, given that existing schemes provide far more benefits than Rs 2,000 promised by the Congress party. For instance, the incumbent Karnataka govt is providing Rs 1,000 per head per month to landless labourers through DBT. In addition, the govt is also working towards enhancing the lives of women through schemes like Jal Jeevan Mission, Ujjwala Scheme, Mathrupoorna, and Aarogya Prushti schemes, which not only cover basic amenities to sustain a livelihood but also provide intangible and qualitative benefits that are far more beneficial than Rs 2,000 offered to woman head of every family.
Anna Bhagya: The sham promise of providing BPL families with 10 Kg of food grains of their choice
Another insincere promise made by Congress in their manifesto is Anna Bhagya, which includes providing 10 kgs of free grains of their choice for every member of the BPL families. The scheme, however, is tainted by past instances when fake beneficiaries were allowed to misuse the benefits of the scheme. It also must be noted that BJP-led government at the Centre instituted PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, which benefitted close to 4 crores beneficiaries in Karnataka during the coronavirus outbreak.
Yuva Nidhi: Wooing voters with unfulfilled poll promises
In 2004, Congress managed to hoodwink voters by promising compensation to unemployed youth in the country, when it had vowed to provide Rs 500 to unemployed graduates but failed in implementjng it. Close to two decades later, Congress seems to bank on short public memory as it announced to provide Rs 3,000 for two years for the unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 for two years to unemployed diploma holders.
Need review of Peace Committee like ‘Social Harmony Panels’
The Congress party also promised to establish social harmony committee at the panchyat levels to ensure communal harmony in every gram panchayat of the district. The function of these committees is to discuss ways to maintain peace and tranquillity in the area. Similar peace committees formed by the Congress earlier have initiated in the past to pacify the riots but ended up creating more chaos.
For instance, during the anti-CAA protests, peace committee members reached the Shaheen Bagh area in Delhi where a pistol was brandished in the air. Video went viral, and the Lutyens media tried to blame BJP leader Anurag Thakur for the incident.
Interestingly, during the investigation, the Police found that the pistol was registered to one Mohammad Luqmaan Chaudhary, who was part of the peace committee delegation. In a statement to India Today later, Luqmaan alleged that he was unaware he was carrying a weapon. He said that he had gone to the protest site “peacefully” to urge the protesters to give way to the ambulance and emergency vehicles.
Also, a peace committee meeting was held days after Jamia Milia Islamia after stones were pelted at security forces during anti-CAA protests. How these peace committees actually help in maintaining peace should be questioned. In 2008, the then-Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta explained to the Chief Secretary recommending guidelines on Communal Harmony as referred to in accordance with an order issued on October 22, 1997. At that time, the Janata Dal-led government was at the centre under Inder Kumar Gujarat as Prime Minister, with Congress’s support from the outside.
“Every town identified as communally sensitive should have a Peace Committee consisting of prominent citizens of all communities, representatives of political parties, Public representative, Office bearers of prominent associations/union. Communal forces and anti-social elements should not be included in the Committee. At the time of apprehension of communal tension, meetings of the Peace Committee should always be called to discuss all matters relating to the communal tension. Efforts should be made to enlist the support of the members of the Committee for persuading the members of different communities to find an amicable settlement of the cause of tension and to defuse the situation,” the letter read.
Although the rules were made clear that communal forces and anti-social elements should not attend such meetings, a member of one of these meetings was discovered in possession of a gun, and the left-leaning media jumped to conclusions to downplay the crime.
The guidelines further suggested, “Women are the most affected group in communal tensions or riots. They can be effective in helping to defuse the communal tension and to prevent riots. As such, they should get fair representation in the membership of the Peace Committees/Integration Committee/Tripartite Committees.” Since the Delhi riots of 2020 made it clear how women were used as a shield by the anti-social and communal elements, this particular section of the guidelines needs to be reviewed.
The formation of the social harmony panels as promised by the Congress party in its manifesto ahead of the Karnataka elections today seems to be the similar plot. The Congress party meanwhile reiterated that the all the ‘anti-people’ laws passed by the BJP government in the last one year would be repealed if it comes to power in the upcoming state assembly elections. The party also stated that it would implement the Right to Information Act and enact Karnataka Whistleblowers Protection Act.
Appeasing minorities ahead of elections
The Congress also announced a slew of promises for the minority community and alleged that the ruling BJP was indulging into minority bashing for political polarization to grab power. “Equality before law and protection under the constitution is the rightful due of all, including Religious and Linguistic Minorities. Sadly, ruling government is indulging in minority bashing for political polarization to grab power. The Congress Party is committed to the welfare of all citizens and groups, including minorities, as per the Constitution of India. Accordingly, the allocation of funds for the minority welfare—Muslim, Christian, Jain, Buddhists and others, would be increased to Rs. 10,000 crores,” the manifesto read.
It has also promised to provide pre-matric scholarships to students of minorities, adequate financial provisions for the maintenance and upgradation of Religious/pilgrim Centres of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other minority faiths and appoint Kannada Teachers in the Government and Aided Urdu, and Arabic Schools and to help modernizing Madarasas.
The Congress also pledges to establish Diwan Mirza Ismail center for competitive exams at Mysuru university for Minorities and give financial assistance. It’s not new that the party has been favoring and appeasing Muslims ahead of the elections. Earlier, it had said that it would restore the 4% Muslim reservation if it comes to power in the state.
This is after the Basavaraj Bommai Government last month decided to scrap 4% quota for Muslims and increased the SC reservation for Vokkaligas and Lingayats instead. Vokkaligas and Lingayats are the two major dominant communities of Karnataka.
Rreferring to this, Home Minister Amit Shah had said last week that the BJP never believed in ‘religion-based reservation.’ The former BJP chief additionally poked the Congress for its position that the quota will be reinstated if it were to win the State’s Assembly elections on May 10 and come to power. “There was a religion-based reservation of 4% for Muslims. Without falling for the vote bank politics, the BJP government abolished the Muslim reservation,” he said while addressing a public meeting at Terdal last week.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief terms Congress’s move as “appeasement politics”
Further, the Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai referred to the Congress’s move as “appeasement politics” hours after the party unveiled its Karnataka election manifesto, which included pledges to outlaw the Hindu nationalist group Bajrang Dal and repeal “unjust” laws enacted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“They are equating Bajrang Dal to the banned Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI). They are doing appeasement politics. After the release of their manifesto, it is clear that Congress is going to lose big time on May 10. There is nothing progressive in the manifesto,” he said.
Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Karnataka on May 10, 2023 to elect all 224 members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on May 13, 2023.
