New Delhi: The one common thread that teases out of the recent rallies of Congress president Rahul Gandhi is his repeated emphasis on the work done by Congress governments in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
Pitting the ‘Congress model of governance’ against the ‘Modi model’, the Congress chief is using his party’s achievements in the three states as the poll pitch for the Lok Sabha elections.
According to a senior Congress leader, the party’s victory in the assembly elections in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh gave it an opportunity to tell voters what they can do nationally if voted to power. The mention of these three states will be a constant feature in the party’s publicity campaign that will be launched soon, said the leader.
Poll promises fulfilled
MP and Chhattisgarh announced a farm loan waiver first, days after the Congress governments in the respective states took charge. Rajasthan followed suit in line with the promise made by Gandhi of waiving farm loans within 10 days of forming the governments in the three states.
On 12 March, Gandhi addressed a rally in Gujarat, the home-turf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing the crowd, Gandhi reiterated that his party fulfilled all the promises made in the three states.
“Our party had promised to waive farm loans within 10 days of coming to power. The PM and the BJP said Congress is lying. Bhaiyo our beheno, in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan not in 10 but within two days we waived the loans. I felt pain (seeing) that I was not able to do the same for the farmers of Gujarat,” he had said.
The BJP had formed the government in Gujarat in 2017, and in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party had won all the state’s 26 seats.
Gandhi went on to say in the rally that while the BJP has not fulfilled its promises made in its manifesto, the Congress has ensured that in these three states, all the promises are fulfilled.
“What we say, we do, and in this election too, truth is going to triumph over evil.”
Besides agricultural loan waiver, the Rajasthan and MP governments had announced unemployment allowance for the youth, which was another poll promise. Both the states have started implementing the scheme. The party is also likely to include the scheme in its Lok Sabha manifesto, said a senior Congress functionary.
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States taking a lead individually
Apart from the major decisions that have been implemented by all the three states, there are some state-specific decisions announced by the respective chief ministers.
Rajasthan
On 9 March, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced that domestic consumers, from April, will not have to pay water charges up to a certain limit in rural and urban areas. The government said that the decision would benefit over 3.5 crore people across the state.
Slamming the ‘Modi model of governance’, Gandhi on 15 March told a group of health officials in Chhattisgarh that he believes in listening to the people while making decisions on any matter related to their welfare.
“You have to tell me, what you think the solutions are, I have to go and implement the solutions that you believe in. This is the difference between the BJP and the Congress. This is what we did in Rajasthan and all the work that is being done in Chhattisgarh by the chief minister is by following that approach,” he said.
Chhattisgarh
Apart from farm loan waiver, the Chhattisgarh government decided to return tribal lands that were acquired for a Rs 19,500-crore Tata Steel project. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also announced a sharp hike in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy to Rs 2,500 per quintal from Rs 1,700 per quintal.
In another important decision, the state government also announced rolling out its own universal healthcare scheme to replace the Narendra Modi-government’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), also known as Ayushman Bharat.
At a 15 March rally in Odisha, the Congress president said he would replicate the Chhattisgarh ‘model of development’ if voted to power, implying that he would waive farm loans and increase paddy MSP.
Madhya Pradesh
In what was hailed by the Congress as a major step in the fight against social justice, Chief Minister Kamal Nath had on 7 March almost doubled the quota for OBCs to 27% from 14%. He also implemented the provision of 10% reservation for the economically weaker section among the general category. The state unit of the Congress had even decided to felicitate Nath for taking such a decision.
Congress model of governance
The three states not just feature prominently in Congress rallies and public events as important examples of the party’s achievements in a shot span of time, but “they are also a reminder to the voter that the party will implement such decisions if voted to power (nationally)”.
“We have done what we had promised and have even gone beyond that, so people can judge (regarding whom to vote),” said a senior Congress leader.
“We have won these three states recently and rather than making promises in manifestos we are able to show the people that we are implementing all the promises,” said another Congress functionary.
“The Congress president has also been highlighting the good work done by our three CMs. This is Rahul’s model of governance which is not empty promise but real work and people have understood this.”
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Congress President Rahul Gandhi has every right to make accusations of corruption against PM Narendra Modi but he must be ready for public scrutiny. As a citizen-voter I wish to ask a few questions to Rahul Gandhi for which I hope he will give simple and straight answers:
1. Use of black money: Will he take steps to make audit of accounts of political parties mandatory?
2. How does he wish to curb use of black money in our elections?
3. Rafale aircrafts deal: In case UPA is voted to power and he becomes PM, would the deal be cancelled, or would it be renegotiated?
4. Since Rafale aircrafts deal is just one instance of corruption in defence equipment procurement deals, would he show courage to ensure that all commission payments in such deals are disclosed?
5. It is easy to make promises about minimum income guarantee or MIG, but it is next to impossible to implement such promises. Would he find excuses not to implement the promise of MIG?
6. Would he disclose sources of his income during last ten years and why he & his mother wish to have their private control on a public property of Associated Journals Ltd.?