Kicking off its campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Thursday resurrected its promise of implementing the Nyuntam Aay Yojana, or NYAY scheme.
Speaking at a Nagpur rally named “Hain Taiyyar Hum”, which translates to “we are ready”, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said that Congress is “committed to the NYAY scheme”.
The scheme was one of Congress’ biggest poll promises in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The name translates to “minimum income scheme”, while the acronym means “justice”.
In March 2019, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said that the scheme was named “NYAY” because it will give justice to the poor. Under the scheme, the party had promised an income support of Rs 72,000 per annum to the poorest 20% of families in the country.
On Thursday, Kharge criticised the Narendra Modi government for failing to fulfil its promises of creating two crore jobs every year and giving Rs 15 lakh to each citizen, reported PTI.
He also alleged that the prime minister was against social justice and equality. The Congress president claimed that while the poor are getting poorer, the rich are becoming richer under the current government.
At the same rally, Gandhi reiterated that the Congress would undertake a caste census if it comes to power at the Centre in the next general election. He also said that unemployment in the country has reached its highest level in 40 years.
“The foundation of the battle for political power is ideology and the Congress’ objective is to hand over power to the common man,” he said.
Gandhi also claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government has pushed a large number of people back into poverty. “We do not want two Indias,” he said. “Only the INDIA alliance can provide employment to the youth.”
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