Kharge announces Congress’s five guarantees under ‘Nari Nyay’

These include financial assistance of ₹1 lakh per annum for poor women, a right to half the new posts under the central government and working women’s hostels in every district

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday announced five key poll promises under the party’s ‘Nari Nyay (Women’s Justice) Guarantee. These include financial assistance of ₹1 lakh per annum for poor women, a right to half the new posts under the central government and working women’s hostels in every district.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. (File)

“Women are half the population of our country, but it grieves me to say that they have not got anything in the last 10 years. The Modi government has only increased their troubles. The only work that has been done is politics in the name of women and taking votes from them. Whether that is the ‘jumla’ of women’s reservation, inflation, record unemployment or increasing crime, all of these issues have the greatest impact on women. The Modi government has completely failed on all of these. That is why the Congress announces the Nari Nyay Guarantee today,” he said in a video on X.

The first and most important of the Congress’s promises is the ‘Mahalaxmi Guarantee’, under which one woman from all poor families will receive financial assistance of ₹1 lakh each year.

In a post on X, Kharge also promised that women would have the right to half the new posts under the central government.

Under the ‘Shakti ka Samman’ guarantee, the Centre’s contribution to the salaries of ASHA, Anganwadi and mid-day meal workers will be doubled.

The government will also appoint a para-legal in every Panchayat as an ‘Adhikaar Maitri’, to make women aware of their rights and provide them with any necessary aid, Kharge said.

Finally, under the ‘Savitri Bai Phule’ guarantee, the Centre will build at least one working women’s hostel in every district in the nation and the number of such hostels across the country will be doubled.

“Our words are set in stone. This is our record from 1926 until now, when our opponents were being born, we were making manifestos and fulfilling those declarations,” Kharge wrote on X.

“All of you keep giving your blessings to the Congress party and strengthen our hand in this fight to save democracy and the Constitution,” he added.

In a press conference yesterday, the Congress president reiterated his party’s ‘guarantees’ of justice for women, farmers and the youth, and ‘bhagidaari nyay’ or justice of participation. He also announced the Congress’s ‘Adivasi Sankalp’, under which it promised to protect tribal rights to “jal, jungle, jameen” (water, jungle, land) and work for the upliftment of the tribal community.