New Delhi: From a Supreme Court-monitored probe on demonetisation, a review of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to bringing back the erstwhile Planning Commission, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has promised to undo many of the policy initiatives of the Narendra Modi government, in its Lok Sabha election manifesto released Wednesday.
In its manifesto, the TMC has also said that it will examine proposals of state governments on the bifurcation of states. The stand is significant as the party is opposed to the creation of a separate Gorkhaland,
Announcing the party’s manifesto, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, however, said that her party was only putting across its views and would not impose them on its allies.
“Since the TMC is part of an opposition alliance, a Common Minimum Programme will be worked out with all other parties,” a senior TMC leader, who did not want to be named, said.
The TMC manifesto also compares the state’s performance with that of the Modi government, stating that West Bengal has performed better than the Centre on many indicators.
For instance, on the issue of employment, the manifesto states that the unemployment rate has climbed sharply to 5.96 per cent in 2018 from 4.50 per cent in 2017.
“In contrast to this, unemployment has declined significantly in West Bengal over the last few years and this too, according to the Central Government’s Labour Bureau,” the manifesto states. “The percentage reduction of unemployment in Bengal over four financial years from 2012-13 to 2015-16 was almost 40 per cent according to the central government data.”
Also read: Trinamool will fight Congress and Left in state, but ally with them in Delhi: Mamata
Land acquisition policy
The Trinamool Congress, which first rode to power on the back of the agitations over land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram in 2011, Wednesday said there is a need to take a fresh look at the land acquisition policy.
“One cannot use force to acquire agricultural or any other land. It is important to create land banks by the government. All departments of the states and the centre should have land in this land bank,” the manifesto states. “These lands may be used for industrialisation and for creating logistics hubs.”
Inclusive approach on linguistic minorities
The TMC has also promised to protect the interests of linguistic minorities by conferring ‘official language’ status on Urdu, Odia, Santali, Gurumukhi (Punjabi), Rajbongshi, Kamtapuri, Kurmali and Kuruk languages in addition to Bengali, Hindi and Nepali.
“Similar inclusive approach on linguistic minorities will be adopted wherever required in the country,” the manifesto says.
The TMC government, however, had imposed Bengali in schools across the state in 2017 only to rescind it after a massive agitation against the decision in Darjeeling.
Promises for the poor, Dalits and farmers
The Trinamool manifesto promises to bring a “Health for All” policy and raise the health expenditure as a proportion of GDP steadily to reach 4.5 per cent in place of the current 1.38 per cent.
It also promises to fill every vacant seat for SC/ST/OBCs. “We have eliminated the backlog of caste certificates of SC, ST and OBCs in West Bengal by issuing 64.83 lakh certificates in the last seven years. We shall do the same at the all India level, wherever required,” the manifesto states.
For farmers, the party promises to bring a special package for their rehabilitation. “We will ensure that the farmers of our country get an appropriate procurement price for rice, jute, wheat and other major crops. With an aim to increase the productivity of farmers exponentially, we will create a major Farmers Productivity Initiative,” the manifesto states.
Demonetisation and GST
Terming demonetisation as a major scam, Trinamool has said that the party will get a judicial probe monitored by a former Supreme Court judge on it.
Besides, it will also get the Goods and Service Tax policy reviewed by a group of experts.
Electoral Reforms
The Trinamool Congress will also bring in electoral reforms, designed to prevent corruption and criminality in a democratic polity, its manifesto states.
“In fact, we will find the appropriate model for government funding of elections, which is already functioning in 62 countries in the world including developing countries like Thailand, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, and developed countries,” the manifesto states.
Also read: After Mamata’s dharna, TMC to hold ‘save democracy’ protests to defeat Modi
Demonetisation was a policy decision. I don’t think there was any scam to it, as the basis for the decision. After it was announced, obviously some people made money on arbitrage. The real regret is that it was wrong in both conception and execution, has caused lasting damage to the economy. It was a political acr; voters are free to render their verdict on it.
Surprisingly no mention of Sharada scam??