Congress, on Wednesday, launched its manifesto for the Delhi assembly elections with a slew of promises, including caste survey, 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs, a much stronger Lokpal Bill to crackdown on corruption and ensure proper investigation into the alleged liquor scam, and a ministry to ensure the welfare of Purvanchalis if it comes to power.
The manifesto released by Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh in the presence of Chairman of the party’s Media and Publicity Department Pawan Khera, party’s Delhi unit Chief Devender Yadav, Manifesto Committee Chairman Anil Chaudhary, among others, also includes the five guarantees that it had announced earlier besides setting up a Scheduled Castes Commission to address the community’s issues and provide ownership documents to residents of resettlement colonies, unauthorised colonies and plots allotted under the 20-point programme.
The five guarantees include Rs 2,500 per month stipend for women, Rs 25 lakh lifelong health insurance for all residents of Delhi under the Jeevan Raksha Yojana, Rs 8,500 stipend per month for the educated unemployed youths to develop their employment skills for one year under the Yuva Udaan Yojana, cooking gas cylinder at Rs 500 subsidised price, free ration kit under Mehangai Mukti Yojana, and 300 units of free electricity to all households under the Free Bijli Yojana.
Speaking on the occasion, Ramesh, without naming anyone, said, “Today, all parties are using the word ‘guarantee’, but this word was used by the Congress party in Karnataka elections. We wanted to give a message to the public that the Congress party does what it says.”
Referring to the previous Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, he said when Manmohan Singh was the prime minister, the party brought a law in the form of guarantee, which was passed and its name was ‘National Rural Employment Guarantee Act’. “Guarantee means it’s the right of the people. The Congress party has announced five guarantees for Delhi. All our promises including the five guarantees are intended to improve the quality of life for the people and deal with current issues,” he said.
Attacking the AAP government in Delhi and the BJP government at the Centre over unprecedented air pollution in the city, he said, “In Delhi today, ‘ease of breathing’ is important, not ‘ease of doing business’. Pollution is the result of the policies of the BJP and AAP governments. This should have been taken seriously, but they did not.”
Speaking on the manifesto, Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said, “We tried to touch every segment by trying to understand their woes. This manifesto of Congress is the manifesto of the people of Delhi because we have included the inputs of the people of Delhi. The Congress does what it says.”
Highlighting the key promises in the party’s manifesto, he said the party would restore the services of the over 15,000 Civil Defence Volunteers who were making valuable contributions to public transport and various departments of the Delhi government.
“We will turn contract workers, including safai karamcharis (sanitation workers), into permanent employees after finalising eligibility criteria. There will be no more contract jobs after 2025. We will revamp and update the Delhi Labour Welfare Board that has become dysfunctional over the past 10 years and used to operate 25 welfare schemes for workers,” he said.
Yadav said the party would provide horizontal reservations to the transgender community in education and jobs in accordance with the Supreme Court’s 2014 NALSA judgement.
He said Congress would increase the number of electric and hydrogen buses operated by the DTC by 500 every year to ensure accessibility to all Delhi residents.