By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 2 Feb: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi addressed a virtual public meeting from a private farmhouse on Canal Road, here, today. In her address, she targeted both the BJP governments at the Centre and the state. During the event, she also released the Congress party’s manifesto for the Uttarakhand Assembly elections.
Earlier, after landing at Jolly Grant Airport, she went straight to The Doon School and spent some time with the teachers and had lunch there.
Addressing the virtual rally that was broadcast in all the assembly constituencies of the state, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attacked the BJP Government and claimed that it had not done any work in the past 5 years and only wasted the public money during its entire tenure. She claimed that she was feeling very upset and hurt to see the situation in Uttarakhand and to see how badly the government had performed in the past 5 years.
Priyanka Gandhi also sought to establish an emotional connect with Dehradun and Uttarakhand by reminding the people that her father, her uncle, her brother as well as her children had studied in Dehradun. She claimed that the BJP Government in Uttarakhand was not doing anything worth mentioning. The women had extra burden of workload in the state and now they had to also bear the burden of inflation. No section of society was happy with the government, here, the Aasha and Aanganwadi Workers were unhappy, the farmers were unhappy and the Dalits were also unhappy. The Youth were unemployed and unhappy, she further asserted.
Vadra said that, in five years, BJP had broken every promise it had made to the people. In contrast to BJP rule, development was ensured at a rapid pace during Congress rule in Uttarakhand. She said that that BJP was not talking about employment but only about religion. She claimed that Congress wanted to work for the people.
The Congress leader said that every five hours in Uttarakhand, a woman was victimised by atrocities. AASHA and Anganwadi women were being troubled in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and when they took to the streets in support of their demands, they were lathi-charged. She added that the women in remote villages in the hill districts of Uttarakhand had no access to proper medical facilities. Women in the hills were burdened with the responsibility of agriculture activities but the BJP Government did not do anything to reduce their burden. The people were suffering due to high prices of commodities, including the petrol and diesel. Vadra also claimed that the Budget presented by the Modi Government yesterday was anti-poor, and while the medicines were set to become more expensive, the government had made diamonds cheaper. Vadra also claimed that the Modi Government had failed to manage the Covid pandemic and a large number of people died due to lack of availability of oxygen though India was the largest producer of Oxygen.
She promised that, after coming to power, the Congress Government in Uttarakhand would reserve 40 percent of jobs for women. She also claimed that the Congress Government would provide financial assistance to at least 5 lakh needy families in Uttarakhand and would also issue credit cards to the students to fulfil their education needs.
Veteran Congress leader Harish Rawat also claimed that, in Uttarakhand, the BJP government did not give anything to the people apart from three chief ministers. The education and health infrastructure in the state had collapsed. He said that the Congress had promised to provide health facilities to every village at every door. Financial assistance would be given to lakhs of the families in the state by the Congress Government even as the Modi Government had made the poor poorer in the country and just worked for the benefit of a few industrialists and billionaires.
Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh, PCC Chief Ganesh Godiyal also addressed the virtual rallies.
Cong promises 40 percent of jobs for women
Cong Manifesto at a Glance-
1. The LPG cylinder will be made available to consumers at Rs 500 per cylinder if the Congress government comes to power in Uttarakhand. The government would bear the rest in the form of subsidy.
2. Four lakh people would be provided employment by the Congress Government.
3. Tourism would be promoted.
4. A separate force of tourism police will be established in the districts.
5. Forty percent of the government jobs will be reserved for women.
6. Forty percent women will be given priority in recruitment in the police department.
7. Women will be able to travel free of cost in government buses.
8. The honorarium of Anganwadi and Asha workers would be increased by one and a half times.
9. Rs 40,000 will be given annually to the families that suffered during the Corona period.
10. New technology will be used to take health services from village to village and door to door.
11. Electricity up to 200 units will be given free of cost within the first year of formation of the government.
12. Student credit cards up to Rs 500,000 will be given to PG students.
13. The ban on government jobs will be removed. Currently there are 57,000 vacant posts, which will be filled in the first year.
14. Lokayukta system will be implemented in the state.
15. Block cadre system will be implemented in the appointment of guest teachers.
16. State police personnel will be given grade pay of Rs 4,600 as they have been demanding for long.
17. The first sports university will be set up in the state.
18. The elderly people would be helped for free pilgrimage.
19. Pension will be given to all old people.
20. Strict land laws will be made.
