New Delhi: A nation-wide Old Pension Scheme (OPS), statehood for Jammu & Kashmir and Puducherry, implementation of the Sachar Committee’s recommendations and strengthening of the Delhi government are among the promises — apart from the 5 ‘Nyays’ — that the Congress party is working on in its draft manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
The updated draft, excerpts of which have been accessed by ThePrint, has been sent to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for its approval.
Some of the promises like the OPS face reservations within the party, while others like the statehood for J&K, if implemented, can put the Congress on a sticky wicket.
Originally not a part of the draft manifesto that was drawn up by a six-member Manifesto Committee led by P. Chidambaram, the OPS and statehood promises were added after a discussion at the meeting of the party’s highest decision-making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), held Tuesday.
The OPS was added after some members raised the demand, according to a CWC member present at the meeting. It was ultimately Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who insisted that the promise of OPS be added, the CWC member said.
In the past, Congress leaders like Praveen Chakravarty have questioned the scheme’s effectiveness in electoral battles. Chakravarty, in an interview to ThePrint in December, called the OPS “unjust” and “unfair” and deemed it a scheme which taxes a vast majority for a small, privileged group.
While the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government introduced the New Pension Scheme (NPS) in 2004, Congress heavyweights Manmohan Singh and P. Chidambaram had previously lauded the new scheme. As the NPS was lauded in the past, Congress leaders feel that it will attack the party’s own legacy without yielding many returns.
“The OPS had come up for discussion in the meetings of the Manifesto Committee, but it was not put in the draft manifesto prepared by the Committee. Mr. Chidambaram, for one, is really wary of it,” said another senior CWC member.
ThePrint reached out to Chidambaram for his response to the OPS potentially being a manifesto promise, but he refused to comment.
The OPS has seen resistance from sections within the Congress even though Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan — when they were under the party — had implemented the scheme.
The Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka have implemented the OPS, while it was a poll promise for the Telangana election held in November last year.
The electoral loss in the Hindi heartland of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, in spite of the OPS promise, may have been an indication that the issue does not have much resonance amongst the electorate.
On the other hand, the demand for statehood of Jammu and Kashmir and special status for Ladakh was included after an intervention by former J&K Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir, who said that it was a long-standing demand of the people.
The original draft had only proposed statehood for Puducherry. The same section also proposed special status for North Eastern states and Andhra Pradesh, and the revocation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The draft also speaks about an amendment to the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD) Act, which was modified by the BJP in 2021 to give more powers to the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) as opposed to the elected Delhi government.
In the draft manifesto, the party proposes to amend the law so that the L-G operate as per the advice of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers on all subjects including services, except the three reserved subjects of public order, land, and police.
It also promises the implementation of the report prepared by the Sachar Committee, a high-level panel of seven members constituted by the Manmohan Singh government in 2005 to study the social, economic, and educational condition of Muslims. The Committee had submitted its report in 2006.
The BJP has consistently attacked the Congress for forming the Committee, calling it as “Muslim appeasement”. Since the 2014 loss to the BJP, the Congress has tried to drop its tag of “appeaser”. The decision was taken after the party’s survey analysing the loss mentioned it as one of the key reasons for the electoral defeat.
In response to whether the OPS and the Sachar Committee report will be a part of the party manifesto, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal skirted the question on Tuesday.
“Details of the manifesto you will get when it is released. All the points in the manifesto have been discussed. All the members participated in the discussion,” Venugopal said at a press conference after the CWC meeting.
(Edited by Tony Rai)