With dole, Congress hopes to steal BJP’s Balakot thunder

The scheme will be rolled out in two phases, starting with half of the poorest beneficiaries. Sources said former finance minister P Chidambaram pegged its cost at Rs 1.8 lakh crore in the first year. As per sources, Congress will promise that this income would be transferred to bank accounts of women heads of households. Interestingly, with Congress seeing “right to minimum income” being identified with Rahul, the party has decided to call the scheme by its Hindi acronym “NYAY” (Nyuntam Aay Yojana). The concept was put forth by Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at the CWC meeting in Ahmedabad last month. “Nyay” in Hindi translates to justice.

With “NYAY”, Congress hopes to steer the debate towards welfarism which the party believes is its strong suit, having lost the narrative post-Balakot which helped BJP roll out “national security” as campaign plank. Assured income to the poorest families can go a long way in wooing the poor during the elections, the party hopes.

After the CWC discussed “NYAY” along with the upcoming election manifesto, Rahul addressed a press conference where he used the scheme to paint PM Narendra Modi-led BJP as “anti-poor”.

“If PM Modi can give money to the richest Indians, Congress can give money to the poorest of the country,” he said. Lashing out, he said the country had one flag but Modi was creating two Indias — one of the rich like Anil Ambani and the other of the poor. “I will not let it happen,” he added. Contrasting “NYAY” with Modi regime’s recent scheme of Rs 6,000 annually to a farming family, Rahul said, “He gives farmers meagre ‘three rupees and fifty paise’ and gives crores to people with private jets. We are giving you justice — Rs 72,000 annually to 20% of Indian families.”

At the CWC deliberations, the income scheme kicked off a debate of sorts. There was a clamour that the entitlement be pegged higher than Rs 6,000 per month, with some leaders quoting amounts.

At this point, Chidambaram intervened to say the scheme would cost Rs 1.8 lakh crore a year and the party needed to be reasonable so that it could be implemented and would not be just a “jumla”.

Later, Rahul tweeted a slogan in Hindi, “Congress’s new initiative, better India, better tomorrow.”