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expectedly revolves around the theme • Poll vows The NYAY is the biggest poll sation will shift back to core livelihood
of nationalism and emotions gener- promise of the Congress this time and welfare issues; the allure of what is
ated around the surgical and Balakot a rather substantial degree of income
strikes. The party manifesto called since Independence, efforts to address support will galvanise the most de-
‘Sankalp Patra’puts national security this have fallen short of expectations. prived of Indian voters solidly behind
on a high pedestal, pledging a higher Jobs are hard to come by and for the the party; and Gandhi would clearly
defence spending. most part, the woes of the poor fail to get positioned as someone setting the
The Hindutva card is visible once attract attention, let alone find redress. agenda rather than just responding to
again as Ram temple issue again comes The Congress has a long history of the government.
to the forefront. There is no mention promising much and not delivering However, for any party to explain its
of removing Article 370 but promise to as much. Economists are struggling policy intent, it has to finally rely on its
remove Article 35(A). The promise to to understand how NYAY would be organisational network for communi-
invest 25 lakh crore in the agri-rural funded. Giving Rs 72000 per year to cation. The Congress, with the Shakti
sector attractively ensures a promising India’s poorest 20% households under network, is trying to reach every nook
future to the farmers as agri crisis have the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) is the and corner. This brings up the ques-
deepened further in the country. There biggest poll promise of the Congress in tion whether the party has a long-term
is a promise of 33 per cent quota to these elections. vision about what it wants to achieve
women in the BJP’s Sankalap Patra or The party has been peddling two with NYAY. For example, sustained
manifesto to woo voters. kinds of justifications for it. First, the payments of 72,000 year to the poor-
While, the BJP promises in its scheme has been described as some est (who are more likely to be from
Sankalap Patra measures to make life sort of last-mile assault on poverty socially deprived groups) could fun-
easier for farmers, the poor and the in India. The second justification is to damentally alter the socio-economic
women, the Congress has come out market NYAY as a stimulus to the econ- balance of power in villages.
with a promise to remove poverty akin omy, which has been subject to defla- To Congress advantage, the state
to its earlier slogan of garibi hatao. Con- tionary shocks through policies such polls at the end of last year 2018
gress president Rahul Gandhi’s Nyun- as demonetisation. Congress president showed an increase in the disillusion-
tam Aay Yojana (NYAY), a minimum Rahul Gandhi and other leaders have ment of tribals with the BJP in Madhya
income scheme for the poor, is alluring been talking about NYAY being a policy Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
as it offers to bridge the difference to re-monetise the economy. It is not clear how this will play out in
between what a poor family earns and In a strikingly ambitious move to UP and if Congress reaches out to poor,
12,000 per month, beyond which a cover 50 million of the poorest Indian particularly Scheduled Castes, the
person is not considered poor. That 20 families. The Congress hopes that with Congress can make the contest truly
per cent in India are below the poverty the announcement, the Bharatiya triangular.
line is a shameful statistic. Janata Party’s perceived surge after the
Although progress has been made Balakot strikes will diminish; conver- letters@tehelka.com

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