Accusing Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) for doing politics of hatred just to polarise the elections, Congress leader stressed that Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India (ECI) should take immediate necessary action so that campaigning of communal line could be checked. “BJP is raising disputed issues like triple talaq, Ram Mandir with the aim to polarise votes in the upcoming Assembly polls in the state,” AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad alleged while replying to a query on BJP raising ‘triple talaq’ issue during campaigning in the State. “BJP has included triple talaq and Ram temple in its manifesto and as both these issues are pending in the Supreme Court, Congress has objections over it...the party demands
that Supreme Court and Election Commission take note of it and initiate action against BJP,” he said after releasing party’s election manifesto here on Wednesday afternoon. To BJP’s demands that Congress make clear its stand on triple talaq, Azad said his Party will not speak on any contentious issue in these elections.
When his attention was drawn to over ten seats where candidates of both SP and Congress have filed their nominations despite forming an alliance, he said SP candidates had filed their papers when it appeared that the alliance will
not come through and though at some places they wanted to withdraw, they could not do so due to uncertainity. He, however, said the matter would be sorted out in a couple of days and leaders of both the parties will campaign in support of candidates declared by the alliance on the seats where nominees of both the partners have filed their papers.
Announcing that Congress will go for setting up a Commission to decide on the compensation to the victims in any incident including riots, the manifesto promises to give free bi-cycle to girls of standard 9 to 12, skill employment mission to provide 50-lakh jobs to youth, 50 per cent reservation for women in the panchayats, Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh financial help for girl marriage, three women police stations in each of the districts and increase of days under employment guarantee scheme.
The manifesto speaks nothing of waiver of the farmers loan or subsidy to the power bills of the farmers on which Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi brought out a Yatra in UP in September last with a slogan of “27 Saal, UP Behal” and promising “Karja maaf, Bijli half”. Though, later Raj Babbar said that when their alliance Government comes to power then they will press their demands to the Government in UP as well as at the Centre.
Releasing the manifesto, just on the eve of the end of the election campaign for the first phase of polls in UP, Azad along with horde of leaders including State President Raj Babbar, promised that a Congress Government in UP in alliance with SP would give a transparent, honest and development oriented governance.
It may be mentioned that chaos prevailed during the release of the 12-page manifesto, which started 45-minutes late, as several senior leaders of the party including Salman Khursheed, former Uttar Pradesh CM face Sheila Dixit, former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Rajiv Shukla and Nirmal Khatri were to be accommodated on the dais. The UP Congress manifesto, with 12 points, has focused on the youths. The Congress manifesto also includes the promises made by the Samajwadi Party in its poll agenda like smartphones, free laps and cycles to students. Free school education for every girl child, skill and employment mission, scholarships for students belonging to economically weaker sections of society, intermediate colleges in every 2500 household and Guru Samman Puraskar for outstanding school teachers are some of the sops. On the law and order front, though the party did not make any comment on the present system, but indirectly hit out at the Akhilesh Yadav Government by promising to undertake comprehensive police reforms to revitalise preparedness and response measures including adoption of the Prakash Singh report for overhauling and revamping the police administration. Manifesto also promised a new law on hate crimes to provide enhanced punishment for those creating tension on basis of caste and religion besides offering sops to women, OBCs and minorities. Party claimed that if voted to power, each districts will have three separate police stations having just women police officials. legal aid for the indigent persons, full strength to the High Court and video-conferencing hearing in the district courts and will undertake large-scale prison reforms. Further clarifying the compensation issue, the manifesto says, Criminal Injuries Compensation Board will be set up to ensure that all the victims of criminal violence of any kind were ensured that their families are statutorily compensated. The manifesto says for setting up a Diversity Commission and Vikas Mitra in every Block to ensure deliver of all the Government schemes for SC/ST and OBCs. For the minorities, the party has promised to provide Rs 2-lakh capital with subsidised interest to youths of the minority communities, besides medical facilities of Rs 2-lakh to SC/ST, OBC families, youths of SCT and OBcs would be given Rs 3-lakh to start their business. Homeless agricultural labourers of SC/ST and OBCs would be given free home. Though in the infrastructure sector, the Congress manifesto has adopted all the promises of the Samajwadi Party, but surprisingly, on the Samajwadi Expressway to be constructed from lucknow to Ballia, was not in their agenda but raked up Ganga Highway, which was mooted in the previous Mayawati regime in 2007-12.The Congress also described its coming together with Samajwadi Party as “an important moment” in the history of country’s politics.