Under the leadership of LoP Shri Rahul Gandhi, the Indian National Congress has launched the 'Vote Chor Gaddi Chhodd' campaign — a clarion call against the BJP and the Election Commission's shameless theft of people's votes through a systematic and organised attempt towards a nationwide siege of India's democracy.

From Bihar to Karnataka to Maharashtra, the truth of 'Vote Chori' is undeniable:

In Aland, Karnataka, 6018 voters were sought to be deleted through remote applications across the 254 Aland election booths.

In Mahadevapura, Bengaluru, over 1 lakh fake voters were found—with evidence of duplicate EPICs, forged photos, misuse of Form-6 and bulk registrations. In one instance, over 80 people were found to be living in a 10-15 sq. ft house.

Across Bangalore Central and the wider city, lakhs of duplicate entries and cross-constituency registrations were discovered.

In Bihar and several other states, fake addresses, non-existent households and hundreds crammed into a single place were found.

In the face of these shocking revelations, the EC has chosen to evade accountability and turn to complicity in this murder of democracy. Instead of following its constitutional mandate, the EC has become the BJP's enabler.

All this points to a centralised rigging of votes to keep the BJP in power because without 'vote chori', the BJP can't stay in power.

Our demand is clear: those who are looting the people's mandate have no right to stay in power. 

To the BJP and its partner in crime, the nation calls you out:

'Vote Chor Gaddi Chhodd!'

Vote Chor Gaddi Chhodd: Exposing the organised theft of people's mandate by the BJP in collusion with the EC

In memory of the former Prime Minister of India, the Congress Party launches the Dr. Manmohan Singh Fellows Program.

Dr. Manmohan Singh was one of India’s finest Prime Ministers. Specifically, it was under his leadership, first as the Finance Minister and later as the Prime Minister, that an entire new professional class of Indians came up and flourished. 

To celebrate and honour Dr. Manmohan Singh’s legacy and contributions to the nation, Praveen Chakravarty (Chairman of AIPC and Data Analytics), along with Pawan Khera (Chairman, Media & Publicity Dept.) and K. Raju, (AICC in-charge of Jharkhand; Head of OBC, SC ,ST & Minority Dept.) launched the Dr. Manmohan Singh Fellows Program, with consent from Dr. Singh’s family.

This is a program targeted at working class professionals that have a passion for public service and societal change. Lakhs of professionals with a strong sense of purpose and duty wishing to join politics often feel overawed, confused and intimidated. This Program will be the bridge for such professionals to transition to a career in politics in a smooth and structured manner. 

50 professionals from across the country will be chosen every year by an eminent panel through a carefully designed process. The chosen Fellows will be mentored by the top leadership of the Congress party, get opportunities to work on important assignments across the various departments, undergo intensive training and be placed on the path to political leadership of the Congress party and the nation.
 
More details about the Dr. Manmohan Singh Fellows Program and the application process can be found on https://mmsfellows.profcongress.in/

Dr. Manmohan Singh said ‘Politics is an instrument of purposeful social change’. The Congress Party is proud to provide the ‘Dr.Manmohan Singh Fellows’ platform for professionals to enter politics for purposeful social change and to build a modern, progressive, prosperous India.

**Website**: **https://mmsfellows.profcongress.in/** 

*Source: [AICC Press Release](https://inc.in/media/press-releases/launch-of-dr-manmohan-singh-fellows-program)*

In memory of the former Prime Minister of India, the Congress Party launches the Dr. Manmohan Singh Fellows Program

The Real State of the Economy 2025 report presents a critical assessment of India’s economic landscape, highlighting key challenges such as slowing GDP growth, rising unemployment, income inequality, and declining household savings. It delves into the manufacturing sector’s struggles, weakening welfare policies, and increasing crony capitalism, providing a data-backed analysis of economic mismanagement over the past decade.

The report offers a fact-based, comprehensive perspective on India’s economic trajectory, advocating for policies that ensure inclusive growth and economic justice.

Read the full report to uncover the true state of India's economy.

**[Click here to read English PDF](https://inc.in/media/press-releases/real-state-of-the-economy-english-2025)**

**[Click here to read Hindi PDF](https://inc.in/media/press-releases/real-state-of-the-economy-hindi-2025)**

Real State of the Economy 2025

Since the beginning of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections campaign, the Indian National Congress posed a set of issue-based questions to Narendra Modi to seek answers about his government’s disastrous record. For the past 10 years, Modi has run campaigns centred entirely on lies, distortions, fearmongering, and misinformation. In a span of 72 days, we have asked him 272 questions on the billion-broken promises and the billion betrayed hopes that lie strewn across the country after his ‘Dus Saal Anyay Kaal’. 

This report, which documents the complete failure of the Modi-led BJP government in every Indian state and district, is our attempt to re-centre the conversation on people’s issues.

***[Click Here](https://inc.in/media/press-releases/72-days-272-questions-0-jawaab)*** for our 272 questions for Mr Narendra Modi in English. 

***[Click Here](https://inc.in/media/press-releases/72-din-272-sawaal-0-jawaab)*** for our 272 questions for Mr Narendra Modi in Hindi.

72 days 272 Questions 0 Jawaab

At every stage of its 138-year journey, the Indian National Congress had identified itself with the problems, develop- ment, aspirations and hopes of all the people of India. During the freedom struggle, its foremost aim was to win freedom. It was guided by the wisdom and sacrifice of great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi. After independence, the Congress’ article of faith was the Constitution of India of which Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was the prime architect.

Since 1947, the Congress has been India’s beacon of hope. Our policies brought about rapid industrialisation in a predominantly agrarian economy, transformed India from a famine-struck country to one that exports food grains to countries around the world, laid the scientific and technical foundations for India’s rise as a global software powerhouse, and built world class institutions in research and higher education whose graduates are seen as at par with the world’s best. Even as liberalisation and reforms caused economic growth to boom under successive Congress governments, our social welfare policies ensured that every citizen was able to participate in the India story. The social welfare net created by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the National Food Security Act ensured that India was able to absorb the shocks of the Global Financial Crisis (2008), the Taper Tantrum (2013), demonetisation (2016) and COVID-19 (2020).

Five years ago, on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress had published a 54-page manifesto. Based on the record of the first term of the Modi government, we had forewarned the people of the precarious state of our polity and economy, and of the danger of re-electing the BJP/NDA government. Our assessment of the situation in the country has, alas, proved true. Many of the weaknesses and woes have deepened in the last five years. The promises and assurances that the Congress gave in its 2019 manifesto remain valid and doubly relevant today. Hence, we will start with endorsing our 2019 manifesto and urge you to read the statements here as part of this manifesto.

We may recall our forewarning

- We had said, “Youth have lost jobs”. The unemployment rate is 8 percent; among graduates the unemployment rate is over 40%.
- We had said, “Farmers have lost hope”. Farmers had to come on to the streets for 16 months to fight the three farm laws that would have made them tenant-farmers of corporate houses; and the farmers are back on the streets again.
- We had said, “Traders have lost business”. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) laws have squeezed exorbitant tax revenues out of lakhs of traders and constrained free trade.
- We had said, “Micro, small and medium enterprises have lost their confidence”. Lakhs of MSMEs have shut down and are no longer creators of jobs
- We had said, “Women have lost a sense of security”. Crimes against women have increased by 31 per cent between 2014 and 2022.
- We had said “Deprived communities have lost their economic rights”. Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities have been deprived of jobs because of the unfilled vacancies in government and other public institutions. Tribal people have been denied their rights under the Forest Rights Act.
- We had said, “Institutions have lost independence”. Every institution, including Constitutional bodies, has been undermined and, in some cases, forced to become subservient to the government.

Our greatest concern was the prevailing ‘climate of fear, intimidation and hatred’. In the last five years, every section of the people has lived in fear; laws and investigating agencies have been weaponised to intimidate people; and through its words and actions the BJP and its affiliates have spread hatred among people belonging to different religious, language and caste groups.

Today, the dangers that we had warned against have become a hard reality.

The economy is in a crisis. Despite the claim that India is the fastest growing large economy in the world, our growth rate has fallen from an average of 6.7 per cent (new series) during the UPA period of 2004-14 to an average of 5.9 per cent during 2014-24. As against the goal of doubling the economy (which the UPA did achieve), India’s GDP in real terms will rise from 100 lakh crore in 2013-14 to only 173 lakh crore in 2023-24, far short of the target.

The decline in the growth rate has serious consequences for the people, especially for those who belong to the poor and middle classes. The impact has fallen on per capita income, consumption of goods and services, and standard of living. Household net assets have declined, household liabilities have increased and families have borrowed more.

Inequality between the rich on the one hand and the poor and middle classes on the other have increased sharply dealing a body blow to the goals of equality, equity, and social and economic justice. A report titled “Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj” by leading global economists, including Thomas Piketty, shows that India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is more unequal than even under the British Raj. The share of national income earned by India’s top 1 per cent is today at its highest historical levels and is among the highest globally. The rise of inequality has been particularly pronounced between 2014 and 2023.

The numbers of registered and active workers under MGNREGA and the fact that 80 crore people depend on free grain (5 kg per person per month) are definite indicators of widespread poverty. On the Global Hunger Index, India’s rank is 111 out of 125 countries.

The gravest danger is that India may no longer be a truly free and democratic republic. Democracy in India has been hollowed out and we are rapidly sliding to become a one-party and one-person dictatorship. The federal structure is under attack with the central government appropriating most of the central revenues, passing laws on subjects that were hitherto left to the state governments, and using its financial and executive powers to reduce states to municipalities. Governors of non-BJP-governed states are encouraged to paralyse the working of elected governments. Laws and investigating agencies are used to foist false cases against non-BJP leaders to force them to submit to the BJP’s will. The media has been rewarded or intimidated to become a vehicle of propaganda of the government.

Ask yourself two questions:

1. Is your life better today than what it was in 2014?
2. Is your mind without fear as dreamed by Rabindranath Tagore?

The choice is not Congress or BJP, but it is more than that. 

- The choice is Democratic government or Authoritarian rule
- Freedom or Fear
- Prosperity for All or Wealth for a Few 
- Justice or Injustice.

The 2024 general election presents an opportunity for radically changing the style and substance of gover- nance that has been in evidence in the past decade of Anyay Kaal. We appeal to you to look beyond religion, language and caste, choose wisely, and install a democratic government that will work for all the people of India. We appeal to you to vote for the INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS.

**[__Read the Manifesto__](https://manifesto.inc.in/)** 

In Focus

Vote Chor Gaddi Chhodd: Exposing the organised theft of people's mandate by the BJP in collusion with the EC

Vote Chor Gaddi Chhodd: Exposing the organised theft of people's mandate by the BJP in collusion with the EC

In memory of the former Prime Minister of India, the Congress Party launches the Dr. Manmohan Singh Fellows Program

Real State of the Economy 2025

72 days 272 Questions 0 Jawaab

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