Rahul Gandhi Announces Five Promises to Youths, Farmers if Congress Voted to Power

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Mar 7: As the union women’s welfare minister Smriti Irani mocked at the Congress and its former president for delay in announcing the party’s candidate for the Amethi seat against her, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday announced a series of promises for the youth, farmers and others if the Congress was voted to power in the Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra, Gandhi promised ‘five justices’ to youths, including filling government vacancies, permanent jobs, freedom from recruitment exam paper leaks, social security for gig workers and a Rs.5,000 crore fund for startups for youths below 40 years of age.

Gandhi also promised a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops to farmers. He also assured that a law would be enacted to curb government recruitment examination question paper leaks.

Accompanied by the party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi said, “We have counted that there are 30 lakh government vacancies. (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji and the BJP don’t fill these up, so after coming to power, our first step would be recruiting the 90 per cent for these 30 lakh government jobs,” he said, referring to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward castes and minorities, which he said account for 90 per cent of the population.

“Second, we brought the right to employment (under MGNREGA). Similarly, we are now going to give a right to apprenticeship to all the youth. Every graduate or diploma holder will be eligible for this right. What is this right? That immediately after every college or university (course), every graduate will get a year-long apprenticeship in a private company or government office and be given Rs 1 lakh a year for the same,” Rahul said. He said like MGNREGA, it will be backed by law: “This will help crores of youth across the country.”

Third, he said, the party would bring a law to check paper leaks where there will be a standardised format to conduct examinations. Under this, there would be no outsourcing to private companies. Fourth, he said the law passed by the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan last year for social security of gig workers such as drivers, guards and delivery boys would be implemented nationally. “In Rajasthan, a law was made for their protection, their pension, their social security. We will implement the same law which was made in Rajasthan across the country,” Gandhi said.

The Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act extends certain “rights” to gig workers, such as being registered with the state, having access to general and specific social security schemes, and having an opportunity to be heard for any grievances, among several other measures. Rahul said the idea behind the law was protecting gig workers and ensuring their social security.

Fifth, he said the “Narendra Modi government did ‘Start Up India’ and ‘Make in India’, which benefited only 2-3 billionaires. So, Rs 5,000 crore would be set aside for a Start Up fund. This fund will be available in every district.” This scheme will be named Yuva Roshni. Gandhi said the biggest issue which had come up during his 2022-23 Bharat Jodo Yatra was unemployment, and the youth complained to him about joblessness and paper leaks.

Beyond these five promises, Rahul said that the party will implement a Minimum Support Price (MSP) law. “We have taken a revolutionary step for farmers in our manifesto (where), for the first time in Hindustan, we have given a legal guarantee for MSP. The farmers who are walking towards Delhi and are being stopped on the roads, we have fulfilled their demand in our manifesto.”

Rahul also urged the marginalised communities to “realise” their strength. He said about 90 per cent of the Indian population is comprised of SCs, STs, backwards and minorities. “On top of that you add 5 per cent poor of the general castes. But if we look at the Indian institutions, the budget, the money (flow), there is no participation of these people. I ask you, you are Adivasis, and the president is an Adivasi. The Ram temple was inaugurated, did you see her face on the television? Why not? Because she is an Adivasi. Did you see any poor, farmers, labourers in the Ram temple inauguration?” Rahul asked in the tribal dominated Banswara, where all five Assembly constituencies are reserved for STs.

He said that there were two “Indias,” one only of the five per cent rich and the other of the rest.

“And be it any area, you won’t find Dalits, Adivasis and the backwards anywhere,” he said, claiming that none of the top 200 Indian companies is owned by a tribal, “I have checked, I took out a list of all of them, of their senior management…”

Pushing for a caste census, he said, “If we want to progress, we will have to take a historic step. Like when you are injured, a doctor tells you to get an X-ray, similarly Hindustan’s poor, the Dalit, Adivasis, backwards and the general caste poor are being hurt, so an X-ray needs to be done,” he said, referring to the caste census.

He alleged that the Centre has closed all doors for youths. Youths aspired to get into the army, but the Centre brought the Agniveer Scheme, privatised the public sectors, and shut down government schools and hospitals, Gandhi said.

At Amethi, Ms Irani while attending an official function of inauguration or laying foundation stone of 281 small projects at a cost of Rs 206 crores, mocked at the Congress for delaying announcing the candidate for the seat where she had already been named the BJP nominee.

While taking a question from mediapersons about Rahul Gandhi contesting the elections from Amethi, she said, “At the moment I do not know who will contest the elections, but the way Congress people are not able to muster the courage to declare the candidate from here, it seems that Amethi’s power and fear of defeat is haunting them. This is a clear indication of their defeat.”

Rahul Gandhi, who represented Amethi in Parliament from 2002 till 2019, lost the 2019 election to Ms Irani in 2019. Recalling her association with the constituency, Ms Irani said, “I came into Amethi politics in 2014 but lost the election to the ‘naamdars’. But I kept serving the people and BJP gave me another opportunity in 2019. The people of Amethi accepted me. History was created in Amethi in 2019.”

The Union minister for women, child development and minority welfare also gave an account of the works done by her in the last five years for the people of the constituency. She said it was a matter of concern that the youth here were never given a chance to present their talent. On the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Youth Sports Competition was organised last year in which 1.11 lakh youth took part, she said. This time, in the competition organised for women and girls, 1,30,265 women and girls took part. This has not happened till date in any parliamentary constituency of the country, she claimed.