A Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of Rs 3,000 per month for women under the Mahalakshmi Yojana, loan waiver of up to Rs 3 lakh and a Rs 25 lakh health insurance along with free medicines are among the five guarantees that the Opposition Congress held out to the people of Maharashtra ahead of the Assembly polls scheduled for November 20.
Addressing a joint rally of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar), in Mumbai, leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi pledged to conduct a caste census and strive for removal of 50 per cent cap on reservations.
The five guarantees that Rahul announced at the rally were a DBT of Rs 3,000 per month to women and free bus travel for women and girls under Mahalakshmi Yojana, loan waiver of up to Rs 3 lakh to farmers and incentive of Rs 50,000 for regular loan repayment, health insurance up to Rs 25 lakh and free medicines, a caste-wise census in the state and strive to remove 50 percent reservation limit and Rs 4000 per month to unemployed youth.
Rahul unveiled the five guarantees in the presence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, and NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar in Mumbai.
"This is a battle of ideology. On one hand, we have BJP and RSS, while there is the INDIA alliance on the other hand. On one hand, there is BR Ambedkar's Constitution, equality and mohabbat (love) and respect, while on the other hand, BJP and RSS are trying to abolish the Constitution,” Rahul said.
Earlier in Nagpur, Rahul Gandhi charged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were covertly “dismantling” the foundational principles of the Constitution and said that both the RSS and BJP were well aware that they would be ripped apart, if they attacked the Constitution directly.
Speaking at a “Samvidhan Samman Sammelan” in Nagpur, Rahul went hammers and tongs at both the RSS and BJP for using narratives like “development, progress, and economy” to camouflage their real intent of eroding the fundamental principles of the Constitution.
“The RSS and the BJP cannot attack the Constitution from the front because they will have to pay for it. That’s why they hide behind words like ‘vikas’, ‘pragati’, ‘unity’ to carry on their agenda of inequality that ensures benefits only to a few individuals at the cost of the vast majority of people… Their agenda undermines the rights of marginalized communities enshrined in the Constitution,” Rahul said.
Singling out the RSS for a vicious attack, Rahul demanded to know “from where does the RSS get money to maintain its huge facility here and to run Shishu Mandirs and Eklavya Vidyalayas?”. “The money comes from BJP-run governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and from favoured industrialists Adani and Ambani,” he said.
Before attending the “Samvidhan Samman Sammelan”, Rahul visited Deeksha Bhoomi – a place where late B R Ambedkar embraced Buddhism way back in 1956 – and paid tributes to Lord Buddha and late Dr Ambedkar, the chief architect of Constitution of India.
