From CAA to income for every family, BJP’s Bengal poll manifesto leaves out nothing
The manifesto has a special focus on Bengali culture and women, who were promised free education from kindergarten to post-graduation level, 33% reservation in jobs and free rides in public transport.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday promised to implement the new citizenship law, ensure employment to one member of every family, set up modern hospitals, spend thousands of crores of rupees for development infrastructure in Kolkata and the districts and support farmers, fishermen, tribal people and backward classes if it comes to power after the eight-phase election that begins on March 27.
The promises were made in the BJP’s election manifesto that Union home minister Amit Shah released in Kolkata on Sunday evening. “Once we are in power the first meeting of our cabinet will announce the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act,” said Shah.
On February 11, Shah, while on a visit to Bengal, said the Centre will enforce the new citizenship law once vaccination across the country is over and the Covid-19 pandemic ends. He also said no Muslim will lose citizenship because of the law.
Shah made the statement at an election rally at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district while addressing the Dalit Matua community which has demanded the law’s immediate implementation.
The fact that Shah released the document and spoke in Hindi triggered reaction in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) that has branded Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other central leaders of the BJP as “outsiders.”
“This speaks of the BJP’s bankruptcy. The party has no competent Bengali leader to release a document meant for the state. It is an insult to the people of Bengal,” said TMC Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy.
The 58-page document is divided in 13 parts with each focusing on women, farmers, health, youth, governance, economic development, infrastructure, culture, tourism, social welfare schemes, regional development, Kolkata and environment.
Some portions of the BJP’s manifesto had striking similarity to the TMC’s document that was released on March 17. The TMC manifesto promised to generate five lakh employment opportunities every year, provide annual financial aid of ₹10,000 per annum to farmers and monthly assistance of ₹500 to all women of general category and ₹1000 to women of scheduled caste and tribe categories. It also promised a credit of ₹10 lakh to students with a low interest rate of 4%.
In the BJP’s manifesto, there is special focus on women, with whom the document starts, and Bengali language and culture. The document even talks of a whistle-blower policy for unearthing corruption, three AIIMS-like hospitals in north Bengal region where the BJP won seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and a minimum wage of ₹350 for tea garden workers. The party also promised to include the Hindu Mahishya and Tili communities into the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, something Banerjee has also done.
“Do not think whether it is possible to achieve these with the state’s budget. Experts have studied everything. All this will require 15% of the state’s budget. Don’t worry. I am a bania (trader). I will not make promises without any calculation,” said Shah.
“Release of election manifestos was reduced to a formality years ago but the BJP changed that. We call this sonkolpo patro (document of oath). These are not mere announcements for us. This document is based on our dream to create Sonar Bangla (golden Bengal),” said Shah.
He spoke at length on the state’s rich heritage and contribution of great Bengalis to art, culture and history. While taking some of the names, Shah mentioned founders of two Dalit Hindu communities - the Rajbanshis of north Bengal and Matuas of south Bengal - whose support is crucial for both TMC and BJP.
During his trip to Thakurnagar last month, Shah announced an array of sops for the Matuas who are a part of the backward Namasudra community that can influence poll results in around 80 of the state’s 294 assembly seats. The BJP has sworn to overthrow the TMC government by winning more than 200 seats.
“A resident of Gujarat with a resident of Madhya Pradesh by his (right) side, releases a manifesto and then makes a full speech in Hindi to create a #ShonarBangla #BengalElections2021,” Derek O’Brien, leader of the TMC in the Rajya Sabha, tweeted on Sunday evening, referring to Shah, who hails from Gujarat and BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya who comes from MP.
“In 10 years, the misrule of the TMC has spread only despair. Mamata Banerjee’s vote bank politics includes appeasement, festivals of Bengal even cow smuggling. She has politicized the administration, criminalized politics and institutionalized corruption,” said Shah while releasing the document.
Some of the salient promises in the manifesto are 33% reservation for women in jobs, annual assistance of ₹10,000 to 1.8 million farmers, annual assistance of ₹6000 and mechanized boats for fishermen, medical insurance under Ayushman Bharat scheme, zero infiltration across the international border, assistance of ₹10,000 for five years for refugees, a literary award similar to the Nobel Prize and named after Tagore, a film award styled after the Oscars and named after Satyajit Ray and monthly pension of ₹3000 for widows.
Political analyst and columnist Suvashis Maitra said, “If the BJP is capable of all this then it should tell people whether such projects have been implemented in Assam and Tripura. A lot of Bengalis live in these two states.”
The manifesto also promises a ₹5000 crore intervention fund for agricultural marketing so that price fluctuation do not affect farmers, a ₹10,000 crore health infrastructure project, doubling of seats in medical and nursing colleges, 10,000 start-ups with ₹25 lakh investment in each, BPOs named after Subhas Chandra Bose in each block, Institutions on the lines of IITs and IIMs, ₹2000 crore for development of sports and special investigation into smuggling of sand, weapons, fake currency notes etc.
