Congress President &LoP (Rajya Sabha) Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, addressed the Congress Manifesto function at AICC Hdqrs in New Delhi on April 05, 2024.

On the occasion of release of our Congress Election Manifesto, former President of Congress Party and our favourite leader Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji and former President Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji and all the leaders of our Congress Party present here and especially Shri P. Chidambaram ji, who prepared the manifesto, KC Venugopal ji, all the working committee members and my friends from the media.

Today I also have to remember that it is the birthday of Babu Jagjivan Ram and Babu Jagjivan Ram worked in our Party for many years from 1947 to 1984. Whatever his contribution was, it was monumental in the Ministry. On such a day today, we dedicate this manifesto to the poor.

Today, the manifesto of the Indian National Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is being released. On this occasion, I would like to welcome you all, to the 16-member Congress Manifesto Committee which was formed under the Chairmanship of Shri P. Chidambaram ji on December 22, 2023, and was approved by the CWC on March 19.

Our manifesto has been prepared after extensive public participation and contact. For this, a website “Awaaz Bharat Ki” was created, on which many suggestions were received. This manifesto of ours will be remembered as a ‘Document of Justice’ in the political history of the country.

The ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ run under the leadership of Rahul ji focused on 5 pillars. During the yatra, ‘YuvaNyay’ (youth justice), ‘Kisan Nyay’ (farmer justice), ‘Nari Nyay’ (women justice), ‘ShramikNyay’ (labour justice) and ‘HissedariNyay’ (share justice) were announced. Wherever we went, we talked about this justice and we also guaranteed it. Out of these 5 pillars, 25 guarantees emerged. The idea that each 25 guarantees will benefit someone or the other is also mentioned in our manifesto here and for this we have already mentioned what we have already been doing. I want to put a few things before you –

• Specially under ‘YuvaNyay’ - we are giving a guarantee that the first job of every educated youth gets permanent with apprenticeship and for that we will spend Rs. 1 lakh on the one who does an apprenticeship course and this will benefit someone or the other. He/She will get a permanent job somewhere because it will be under skill development and he/she will get work in many industries. • Under ‘Nari Nyay’ - will provide assistance of Rs. 1 lakh annually to a woman from a poor family. • Under ‘Kisan Nyay’ - We will also give legal guarantee of loan waiver and MSP to farmers and under ‘ShramikNyay’ - minimum wage of at least Rs. 400 will be given even in MGNREGA. · For socio-economic equality in ‘HissedariNyay’ - every person and every class will be counted or caste census will be conducted which will benefit everyone. It is not in anyone’s favour or against anyone. This caste census will be done to understand the situation, just as caste census is done for SC, ST and similarly there are backward people and poor people in the upper caste. To know the condition of everyone, we will conduct a caste census and every section will benefit from it. · In the constitutional justice section of our manifesto, there are issues like save democracy, freedom from fear, media, independence of judiciary, campaign against corruption. There are also subjects like art and culture. · We will bring all these things in the economic justice section like economic policies, unemployment, taxation and tax reforms. We will do concrete work on industry and infrastructure. · We will throw light on the federal structure in state justice and rural and urban development, North-East India along with Centre-State relations and wherever the federal structure is hit, we will also raise our voice along with them and when our government comes, will give them equal share, so that they do not yearn for money. Be it drought, flood, disaster or natural calamity, we will definitely provide them the help that the Federal Government should get under the law. · Along with this, keeping in mind the importance of defense and internal security of the country, there is also a section of ‘Raksha Nyay’ (defense justice) which also has foreign policy and our foreign policy has been successful till now and if these people had worked on the same policy properly, many of the difficulties we are facing today would never have emerged in the first place. So, that is why, we will do our best to protect justice and protect the country. One last important point will be of ‘Environmental Justice’.

I would request all of you to look closely at the manifesto, examine it, you will see a wonderful, new picture of the future India in it and you can work properly for it.

Since independence, from the elections of 1951-52, political parties make many claims while issuing manifestos, but Congress always follows the ground reality. The name of our manifesto issued in 1951 under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was, “What does Congress want?” Regarding the first manifesto it was commented that ‘NO Exaggerated claims were made. No ambitious plans to entice public or deceive the electorate had been placed before them. A realistic view of what was capable of achievement and implementation alone was presented.’ This manifesto was given during the time of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, which is genuine. He spoke about what we can do at the ground level, not to trap anyone, not to lie. Whatever we say, we do it, this was his saying and the same applies even today. Whatever we are doing, whatever we can do is written in the manifesto and we have also talked to many of our scholars about what can be done and what cannot be done in this. According to their advice today we have done this. All things are placed in front of you.

This is our glorious history of 139 years. This will greatly accelerate the pace of social and economic development of the country. We will open the closed doors for the development of farmers, labourers and women, youth, poor and deprived sections, because in this Modi government, all these doors are closed for the poor, for women, for the youth. When we come to power, we will open all these doors for the poor and develop them, this is our pledge.

Modi Ji is openly critical of our UPA government led by Dr. Manmohan Singh. But in those 10 years, we had taken many steps including MNREGA, right to education, right to information, food security, forest rights, land acquisition law and rights to street vendors and Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji, who was the one to implement all of these, is present. She fought closely for these MNREGA and especially for food security, because I know that I cannot say everything here that she was extremely worried about these two-three programmes, until they were implemented. Till then she did not sit silent and kept telling the cabinet people what happened, when it happened. But when it was finally implemented, she too celebrated and even we also said that it was so good to happen. When this message of MNREGA, food security and compulsory education went out, then people all started becoming happy, everyone started saying that it was very good that the UPA government did so. Sonia Gandhi ji did it - this word came out. That is why, this is what we are already doing for the poor. There were promises, we will fulfil them.

Modiji could not do even a single work in comparison to this in 10 years. You tell me which big factory, which can create employment, which was built during Nehru Ji’s time – is any such big work been done by him? In a country where not a single needle was made, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira ji got rockets made and flew them and we made many scientific plans. Now, in the times of Modi ji, I have not heard anything except abuses and if he has done any hidden works, then tell me, so that even I may praise him.

But whatever guarantee we are giving, today we have demonstrated it in a few states. We have done it in Himachal, we have done it in Karnataka, we have done it in Telangana, we have done many new things wherever our government is and in Rajasthan too, we have done it there too.

So, what we say, I have already said, we do it and we are not afraid to do it, no matter how much loss we suffer, but we keep doing it for the poor, this is our programme already and I would like to say a few things. I want to take this opportunity to say, sorry if I am taking too much time and you are getting late, I consider it important to put a few things before you and what is happening today, opposition leaders are being put behind bars. Everyone is not given equal opportunity in the elections. And many cases were filed one after the other and such a big crime was committed against our Party and so many penalties were imposed on us, they imposed a penalty of Rs. 3,567 crores on us. Is this a level-playing field? This is happening on us today, tomorrow it will happen on the media, it will happen on the media houses, it will happen on everyone.

So, that is why, the democracy of this country has to be saved, the Constitution has to be saved, that is why we all the people of the country should unite and fight and the autocratic Modi Saheb should be removed, this is my request to you. Unless you do this work, it will not be done just by talking. You people should go door-to-door and our workers should do the work of distributing our guarantee cards to every door. Unless you go door-to-door, meet voters, nothing is going to happen, no change is going to happen just through slogans or my speech. There will be a change, when you will meet the public, go door-to-door, meet women, meet the youth and meet all our parents and elders, meet them and work with the farmers, only then we will be able to achieve something. That’s why, I would request you to do this work for us and keep working to dethrone this autocratic government.

Now BJP’s approach is like this, “Give donation, take business”, “Give bribe, take contract”, so they worked and they say that they will eradicate corruption. You targeted 25 of our big leaders and among the 25 leaders, you completely exonerated two and later exonerated 23 more people. So many people are going into Shah Saheb’s washing machine and coming back clean. The most corrupt people are at your side, even then you have the audacity to defame us! I don’t have them, till the time I had them, you said they were corrupt, then how did they become clean, how did they become authentic, how did they become correct? So here they scare them and on the other side they take all the thieves, so this is my opinion. That’s why you think about this and we have been serving the poor for years, we will continue to do so in future too and I am not counting all the work they did here because what they did in Railways, what they did for inflation, what they did for unemployment - If I keep saying all this, even you will get tired, so that is why I do not say much, you all know and all that thing is there in our entire election manifesto. That is why, I thank all of you for supporting us at a time when people are running away out of fear. Who are they? Only the man who steals something is afraid. The person who is right and stands by his principles, no one scares him and even if someone scares him/her, those people who are firm on their principles will not be afraid.

So that’s why we are not afraid, our leaders Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji, Rahul Gandhi ji, there is no fear in them. Only Modi has that fear, because he has been talking about 400 people. He could not go to an area like Manipur, he made 14 trips abroad, the election campaign in the country was done with government funds and in government vehicles, but he did not see Manipur. Why didn’t you go? You have a 56-inches chest, you have nothing to fear, you can go. But our leader Rahul Gandhi ji can go there with the people, why can’t you go? Because you are afraid and an afraid man never does any good for the country, you came by-chance. Now in future people will see him, and you too will stand with us strongly, I conclude my words with this. Jai Hind!