Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (File).
Kolkata:
The Trinamool Congress launched its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha election on Wednesday night and vowed – because the Congress, the DMK, and different members of the INDIA opposition bloc have – to repeal modifications to the citizenship legislation ought to it defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.
Bengal’s ruling celebration – seen as a part of INDIA regardless of failed seat-sharing talks with the Congress-led group – additionally made different big-ticket guarantees, together with 10 free LPG (cooking fuel) cylinders yearly to below-poverty-line households and 5 kg of free rations (rice, wheat, and grains) month-to-month.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s celebration additionally vowed to again farmers within the MSP, or minimal help value, row, which led to a months-long confrontation – together with a blockade round Delhi – between protesting agriculturists and the centre in 2020, and a second spherical of protests this yr.
The Trinamool has stated it’ll set this value in step with the MS Swaminathan Fee’s suggestions and “not less than 50 per cent greater than the common price of manufacturing”.
The costs of petrol and diesel will likely be “capped at reasonably priced ranges” and a value stabilisation fund can be set as much as deal with future fluctuations in what’s a unstable worldwide market.
The Trinamool has additionally promised 100 days of assured work to all job card holders, and that every one registered employees, nationwide, will now get Rs 400 per day.
It has additionally reached out to college students, promising to triple the variety of greater schooling scholarships for marginalised – Different Backward Courses, and Scheduled Castes and Tribes – communities.
For senior residents (over 60 years), the present pension scheme will likely be overhauled. They’ll now get Rs 1,000 per thirty days. “Dignified housing” has been assured for all poor households within the nation.
It will present “secure and safe properties” to all, Ms Banerjee stated.
“These are the guarantees which we’ll fulfil as a part of (the) INDIA bloc, when it kinds the subsequent authorities,” outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien stated on the launch occasion in Kolkata.
The manifesto was launched as Mamata Banerjee ripped into the BJP whereas campaigning for her celebration’s candidate in Assam’s Silchar. A fierce critic of the saffron celebration, Ms Banerjee supplied a chilling warning to voters in all places, saying, “This election goes to be scary…”
READ | “Suppose PM Will Give You Justice?” Mamata Banerjee in Assam
The Trinamool manifesto follows these of its allies – Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK and the Congress, in addition to that of the CPI(M), which made headlines by vowing to dismantle India’s nuclear weapons.
READ | No Citizenship Modification Act, Uniform Civil Code: DMK Manifesto
The CPI(M)’s promise triggered pushback from Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who stated the Left celebration was enjoying with nationwide safety and claimed a “deep-rooted conspiracy” in opposition to the nation.
READ | CPI(M) Manifesto Guarantees To Dismantle India’s Nukes
The BJP launched its manifesto final week.
READ | BJP Releases ‘Modi Ki Assure’ Manifesto, Congress Calls It Apology
The doc underlined Mr Modi’s concentrate on the poor, younger women and men, farmers, and girls, all of whom are seen as key vote banks for the saffron celebration. He stated the manifesto targeted on the “dignity (and) high quality of life” and the “amount (and) high quality of alternatives”.
The Congress launched its manifesto on April 5 and, just like the Trinamool, stated it will roll again the modifications to the Citizenship Modification Act and guarantee authorized backing for farmers’ MSP calls for.
READ | Congress’ 2024 Manifesto Focuses On Jobs, Vows Caste Census
Crucially, the celebration additionally stated it will order a nationwide caste survey, which is among the greatest speaking factors on this election, and has been so since Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar – whose Janata Dal (United) was an INDIA chief until he jumped to the BJP – ordered its survey final yr.
The Congress manifesto invited acerbic responses from the Prime Minister and senior BJP leaders, who described it as a “Muslim League imprint”. Congress boss Mallikarjun Kharge shot again and accused Mr Modi and House Minister Amit Shah of “spreading falsehood”.
The 2024 Lok Sabha election will start on Friday and run until June 1. Voting will happen over seven phases. The ultimate end result will likely be declared on June 4. Within the 2019 election, Ms Banerjee’s Trinamool received 22 of the state’s 42 seats. The BJP received 18 and the Congress received the opposite two.
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