Rahul Gandhi released the Congress Manifesto in Telangana on Saturday highlighting the poll guarantees of the party to benefit the farmers, women, youth and people from the marginal communities. During the rally, Gandhi attacked the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the Centre alleging that the electoral bonds scheme was the "world's biggest scam" and claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "his people" in the election commission.
The Supreme Court had struck down the electoral bonds scheme as unconstitutional in a ruling in February.
Speaking at a gathering on the outskirts of Hyderabad, one day after the Congress party released their manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi referred to the Enforcement Directorate as the 'Extortion Directorate'.
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"What earlier used to be called as Enforcement Directorate, has become Extortion Directorate today. BJP is running the world's biggest washing machine," he said.
"The country's most corrupt ministers and most corrupt leaders stand with Narendra Modi ji. Narendra Modi ji has his people in the Election Commission also," he said.
The list of electoral bonds scheme shows that a company is threatened by the CBI and then the company hands over crores of rupees to the BJP. The company then gets infrastructure projects worth crores of rupees, he alleged.
The bank accounts of Congress have been frozen, but the Congress does not fear the BJP, he said.
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Drawing attention to the five 'Nyays' (justice) outlined in the Congress manifesto, he asserted that under the 'Kisan Nyay' scheme, agricultural loans would be forgiven and a legal assurance of Minimum Support Price (MSP) would be provided if their party came into power.
Gandhi further stated that 30 farmers take their own lives every day in India. He accused Modi of forgiving loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore for the wealthy while neglecting to waive a single rupee of farmers' loans.
He further claimed that after Modi's administration took charge, millions of individuals in the country experienced a decline in their economic status.
Rahul Gandhi acknowledged the efforts of the Congress government in fulfilling the commitments made to the people of Telangana prior to the recent assembly elections.
He also expressed his willingness to promptly assist the people of the state whenever they require his support.
Speaking about the Congress government in Telangana, Rahul Gandhi said, “In the last three months, it (Telangana government) filled up 30,000 jobs. It implemented guarantees like supply of LPG cylinder for ₹500, free bus travel for women and free power supply up to 200 units."
He then added, “Similarly, we shall implement all the five guarantees being promised at the national level, if the party is voted to power at the Centre in the coming Lok Sabha elections.”
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Gandhi expressed that the Congress manifesto had the potential to transform the nation as it reflected the aspirations of ordinary citizens.
He mentioned that his party had made commitment to empower unemployed young individuals by offering them training and a monthly stipend of ₹8,500.
Speaking of the poll guarantee for helping women, he said, “Under the Mahila Nyay programme, we shall credit an amount of ₹1-lakh a year directly into their (poor women’s) accounts."
"We shall increase the minimum support price for farmers as per the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission and minimum wages would be increased to ₹400 per day," he added
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According to Gandhi, even though the majority of the population in the country consists of poorer and weaker sections, such as OBCs accounting for 50 per cent, STs accounting for 8 per cent, and SCs accounting for 15 per cent, their representation in institutions does not correspond to their population.
He assured caste census to be conducted in the country once the Congress comes to power. “We shall bring a new lease of life for these weaker sections by taking up a caste census to find out their socioeconomic status,” said Gandhi.
