Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday promised in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh free education for students between classes 1 and 12 and a monthly scholarship ranging from ₹500 to ₹1,500 if her party comes to power in the November 17 Assembly elections.
Addressing a public rally, her second in a week, Ms. Vadra announced the ‘Padho-Padhao Yojana’ and said students from classes 1 to 8 will be given ₹500 per month while those studying in classes 9 and 10 would get ₹1,000 every month. The government would provide ₹1,500 a month to the students of classes 11 and 12, she added.
The Congress has already promised a number of welfare schemes in the State such as implementation of the Old Pension Scheme, financial assistance of ₹1,500 per month to women under the ‘Nari Samman Yojana’, 100 units of free electricity to every household, and LPG cylinder at ₹500, in its bid to wrest power in the State.
Speaking in the tribal-dominated district of Mandla in the Vindhya region, Ms. Vadra again emphasised the Congress’ demand for a caste census in the country and claimed that her party did not wish to divide the society.
“We are only asking them [the BJP government at the Centre] to do the counting at least so that justice can be done to people. We don’t want to divide the society like they say. We want to get people justice,” she said.
AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with tribals during a public meeting, in Mandla, on Oct. 12, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI
Sixth Schedule
“OBC reservation in the State will be at 27% and we will conduct a caste census in Madhya Pradesh so that people can get justice in future,” Ms. Vadra said, adding that in the areas with more than 50% tribal population, provisions of the sixth Schedule of the Constitution would be implemented.
The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution currently provides for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram to safeguard the rights of the tribal population.
However, unlike her brother and MP Rahul Gandhi, Ms. Vadra did not focus her address on national issues such as caste census and kept it local, in an attempt to connect with the tribal voters. Her nearly 50-minute address focused on local issues of the tribal regions, including employment, migration, lack of basic medical and education facilities and rate of Tendu Patta (tendu leaf).
In her recent addresses, the Congress leader had tried to make an emotional connect with the tribal population of the State by invoking her grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
“You used to call her ‘Indira Mata’. You had faith in her because she worked for you. She used to say that your culture [tribal culture] is the best in the world because here they teach you to love and protect nature,” she said.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi with Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath being garlanded during the party’s Jan Aakrosh Yatra, in Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh, on Oct. 12, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI
Ms. Vadra also said that the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, would be implemented in Madhya Pradesh like Chhattisgarh if the Congress comes to power.
She also promised that the rate of tendu patta would be increased from existing ₹3,000 per bag to ₹4,000 per bag. The move is expected to benefit at least 45 lakh people of the tribal regions who are involved in the business of leaf collection.
Ms. Vadra also hit out at the BJP and said it “stole the people’s mandate of 2018 by money power”.
“You chose a Congress government last time. This was your janadesh [mandate] but it was changed by dhanadesh. They bribed and bought our MLAs,” she said, adding that the BJP government had done more than 250 scams in its 225-month rule in the State.
“I don’t ask for your vote. I ask for your awareness and you yourself will understand who to vote for,” Ms. Vadra said.
