Congress ‘Nyay Patra’ manifesto: Key promises include restoring full Statehood to J&K, nationwide caste census and abolishing Agnipath scheme

April 05, 2024 11:54 am | Updated 01:31 pm IST

Releasing the party’s manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on April 5, Congress party leader P. Chidambaram who headed the Manifesto Committee, said the document focuses on the theme of justice. The manifesto is being called ‘Nyay Patra’.

Here is what the manifesto broadly promises to achieve if the party is brought to power:

Key takeaways from Congress manifesto Focus on five ‘pillars of justice’ — including ‘Yuva Nyay’, ‘Naari Nyay’, ‘Kisaan Nyay’, ‘Shramik Nyay’ and ‘Hissedari Nyay’ Abolish the Agnipath programme and direct the armed forces to resume normal recruitment to achieve full sanctioned strength Restore full Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, grant Statehood Puducherry Guarantee of national minimum wage at ₹400 per day Launch of Mahalakshmi scheme to provide ₹1 lakh per year to every poor Indian family Promise to fill nearly 30 lakh vacancies in sanctioned posts at various levels in the central government Implement 10% quota in jobs, educational institutions for economically weaker sections (EWS) for all castes, communities without discrimination Rajasthan model of cashless insurance of up to ₹25 lakh will be adopted for universal healthcare Constitutional amendment to raise the 50% cap on reservations for SC, ST and OBC A nationwide socio-economic and caste census A new ‘right to apprenticeship act’ to provide one-year apprenticeship to every diploma holder or graduate below age of 25 Legal guarantee to Minimum Support Prices announced by the government every year as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission Launch of an urban employment programme guaranteeing work for urban poor in reconstruction, renewal of urban infrastructure

Also read: Lok Sabha elections LIVE updates - April 5

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and senior leader Rahul Gandhi released the party’s Lok Sabha manifesto in New Delhi.

Following up on the theme of justice, the manifesto’s second broad theme is to create wealth through investments.

“The third section is focused on welfare. But for welfare for whom?,” Mr. Chidambaram said.

Accusing the government of being a government “of the rich, by the rich and for the rich,” Mr. Chidambaram added, “We have to focus on the bottom 50% of the population.” “If Congress comes to power, we will lift 23 crore people out of poverty .We have done it before and we can do it again.”

Here is the final manifesto approved by the Congress Working Committee and the Congress President.

The broad theme of the manifesto is justice. Every aspect of justice has been threatened, weakened, diminished and in some cases, denied in the last ten years.

We were active… pic.twitter.com/lc3lYAOVaq — Congress (@INCIndia) April 5, 2024

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kharge remarked that the Congress is releasing the manifesto on Babu Jagjeevan Ram’s birth anniversary. “We are dedicating our manifesto to the poor people of the country,” he said.

“The manifesto is a result of extensive consultation and participation by the people. The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, focused on five pillars of justice. We have included everyone of them and 25 guarantees come out of the five pillars or paanch nyay,” Mr. Kharge said.

The party’s election manifesto focuses on ‘Paanch Nyay’ or five pillars of justice, including ‘Yuva Nyay’, ‘Naari Nyay’, ‘Kisaan Nyay’, ‘Shramik Nyay’ and ‘Hissedari Nyay’ as well as the guarantees made by it to the people as part of its poll promises for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The party in its manifesto also says that the party will conduct a nationwide Socio-Economic and Caste Census to enumerate the castes and sub-castes and their socio-economic conditions and it will pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50% cap on reservations for SC, ST and OBC. The Congress manifesto was compiled after carrying out nationwide consultations and after receiving thousands of suggestions via email and our ‘Awaaz Bharat Ki’ website, as per the party.

“I urge everyone to have a close look at our manifesto and you will see a ‘shandaar tasveer’ (beautiful picture) of our country in it,” the Congress president said while addressing the gathering.

“We will open the doors to the poor when we come to power....PM Modi is taking our people and claiming ‘400 Paar’ MPs,” Mr. Kharge added.

Only those who have done something and have fear are quitting the party to join the BJP, he said.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) met in March and ‘deliberated’ thoroughly on the party’s manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and other Congress leaders were present at the meeting.

(With inputs from ANI)