Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday promised to increase MGNREGA wages up to Rs 400, double the income of ASHA workers and Anganwari Sevika, and credit Rs 1 lakh every year to bank accounts of poor households, if the opposition INDIA bloc is voted to power.

“First, a list of poor households will be made which will mostly include people from adivasi, dalit and backward classes…and then, one woman will be identified from each of those households. An amount of Rs 1 lakh will be credited to the bank accounts of all those women,” he said

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Addressing a rally in Jharkhand’s Chaibasa, the Gandhi scion extended support to the tribal population, saying tribals have the first right over the resources of the country.

He further said that the BJP calls the tribals “vanwasis” but sells the jungles to Adani, thereby depriving the tribal population of their homes and forcing them to come out on the streets and beg for a living.

“Their intention is bad as they do not want you to progress,” he said.

Gandhi reiterated that the Narendra Modi government wants to hand over the tribals’ “jal (water), jungle (forest) and zameen (land)’ to industrialists.

Claiming that leaders of the INDIA bloc are ready to sacrifice their lives to save the Constitution, he said, “Prime Minister Modi wants to hand over the ‘Jal, Jungle, Zameen’ of the tribals to 14-15 industrialists. Narendra Modi works for Adani, Ambani. He made 22 people billionaires in his 10-year tenure. We will provide Rs 1 lakh annually to poor women if voted to power.”

“The BJP wants to confine tribals to roles like domestic helps. They never want you to become doctors, engineers and lawyers. They want to hand over the jungles to industrialists… The country is being run by 90 IAS officers and out of them, there is only one tribal who has been sidelined in Delhi. The tribal population is around 8 per cent in the country,” he added.

Waving a copy of the Constitution from the stage, the Congress leader said this is not only a book but the voice of the people, and BJP wants to tear it into pieces.

“It is the constitution which gives you reservation, gives you employment, it gives education to your children and it also helps you get treated in hospitals……If this is destroyed, the tribals will be finished, dalit will be finished and the OBCs will be nowhere.. everything will go to the hands of 10-15 millionaires of this country,” he said.

He also said that the INDI-Alliance will do away with the contractual employment system in government and public sector units.