Every section suffered in last 10 years, Congress’ Nyay Patra to set things right: AIPC

Telangana: Nyay Patra, Congress manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections is a people's manifesto, says Irfan Aziz, AIPC (All India Professionals Congress) Chapter Head, and Navika Harshe, All India Research Head, AIPC. In an interview with NewsMeter, the two leaders who were part of the core team that prepared the manifesto, said they received thousands of suggestions, emails, inputs, suggestions, and feedback from across the country which were then collated and included in the manifesto. The public issues and problems that were brought to Rahul Gandhi's notice during his two nationwide Yatras also made it to the manifesto. The three major points of the manifesto are Work, Wealth, and Welfare. Ensuring the same slab rate in taxation for all five years mainly benefiting the middle class, reworking GST and equal opportunities and convenient working conditions for women professionals are some of the highlights of the Congress manifesto. Excerpts:

NM: Can you throw more light on Nyay Patra? How long it took and how did you go about the whole process?

Irfan Aziz: It took six months to prepare the manifesto. We got inputs and suggestions through thousands of e-mails from nook and corner of the country. It is a People’s Manifesto. Whatever the people wanted us to include made it to the manifesto in the form of `Paanch Nyay’ and `Pachees Guarantees’. The focus is on justice for youth, women, farmers, workers, and the underprivileged and we are taking the manifesto to every doorstep through the Ghar Ghar Guarantee initiative.

Navika Harshe: Nyay Patra is a continuation of the two nationwide yatras (Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra) led by Rahul Gandhi in the last couple of years. All through the yatra, people kept approaching Rahul Gandhi and brought their issues, and problems to his notice besides giving suggestions, and all this fed into the manifesto ultimately. We left our emails and website links open during that period. Over 3000 suggestions were received and many AIPC volunteers worked overtime to collate the data carefully so that none missed out. Whatever the public wanted, it has been incorporated in the manifesto and hence we confidently say ours is a People’s Manifesto.

NM: Can you explain the salient features of the manifesto and what it entails for different sections?

Navika Harshe: A lot of schemes were brought in for the middle class. We are going to make sure the same slab rate in taxation for all five years. A middle-class salaried person can plan his finances properly. The second important feature is we will rework the existing GST. The GST 2.0 will be much simpler. It will have one moderate rate across the country making life easier for auditors and financial experts. There are plans to give thrust to medium and small-scale industries. There is going to be a lot of emphasis on ensuring everyone gets an equal share. Coming to women, we will give opportunities to women to reach higher positions in their respective fields. There will be more representation for women in positions like High Court judges, Secretaries to the Government of India, etc.

Congress plans to bring extra measures and convenient working conditions for professional women, who leave jobs for reasons like motherhood, bringing up children, or caregiving of family members. We are making a conscious effort to ensure women, everyone and every section of the society gets something out of this manifesto and be part of the larger growth story of India. The growth and development should not be confined to just a few but everyone in society.

Irfan Aziz: To add one more thing, we will completely remove the Agniveer or the Agnipath scheme, which the current government has brought in. Youth who want to serve the nation are affected by this scheme which has a lot of issues and problems. Congress has decided to scrap the scheme after coming to power.

NM: Telangana Congress came out with a manifesto that focused on six guarantees for the assembly elections held six months ago. How relatable or relevant is the Nyay Patra to Telangana?

Irfan Aziz: Definitely, the six guarantees are related to Nyay Patra. The free bus ride to women, Rythu Bharosa, MSP to farmers, Farm loan waiver of Rs 2 lakh, and Internship to youth (degree and diploma holders), which is a new initiative never undertaken by anyone earlier and bodes well for the future and development of youth and also the country. Also, Nyay Patra promises Telangana a Supreme Court bench here in the High Court. Setting up Dry Ports, IIM (Indian Institute of Management), IT and Industrial Corridors, etc. also figure in our manifesto about Telangana.

NM: As you say, a lot of research and planning had gone into the preparation of the manifesto. But opposition parties, citing the Telangana example, are criticizing that Congress is trying to deceive people with promises that are not possible to fulfill. What do you have to say?

Irfan Aziz: We delivered our promises in Karnataka earlier and also in Telangana. Over 30,000 Jobs to youth within three months, a free bus ride scheme for women, an LPG cylinder for Rs 500, and free power up to 200 units were implemented. Due to the MLC election code and Model Code of Conduct for Lok Sabha polls, the farm loan waiver scheme was unfortunately halted, but CM Revanth Reddy and the party announced that it would be fulfilled before August 15. As part of the apprentice scheme for youth, we have identified companies and PSUs where it would be implemented. We will be earmarking Rs 5000 crore funds for new Entrepreneurs under the age of 40 years for starting and running their companies. To add one more thing, we already have an NRI forum to address the problems and issues of Indians who have gone abroad to live esp. Gulf countries. Telangana CM held a meeting recently in Taj Deccan with Indians who went to Gulf countries to take stock of their issues, problems, and what needs to be done from the government side. We have 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and the Congress manifesto is along those lines.

Navika Harshe: If one goes through Nyay Patra in detail, the manifesto is listing our priorities. We are saying we will do this for women and we will do this for youth. We are not saying like the current government that we will give Rs 15 lakh crore to Industrialists, who never spend on the country. This money has gone waste.

People raising doubts over manifesto implementation are mostly looking at just the expenditure component. Budget not only comprises expenditure, but one has to take into account revenue, income, and earnings also. We are not talking about income here. We are emphasizing that we will increase the wealth of the nation. So once the wealth goes up all these schemes could be fulfilled. On one hand, we will be cutting down unnecessary expenditures and costs and at the same time, we will be bringing programs and schemes useful for people and thus increase the wealth of the nation. If one sees our manifesto, the three major points are Work, Wealth, and Welfare. We are going to give work for the people, generate wealth for the country, and ensure there is welfare for everyone. When we do in this way, we will manage what we are promising in the manifesto. We did it in Karnataka and then in Telangana. We did start here but only because of the Election code did we have to stop and postpone our plans.

NM: Unlike during assembly elections when the party and candidates highlighted the six guarantees in a big way and created awareness among the voters, a similar effort is not being seen regarding Nyay Patra in Lok Sabha elections this time. Neither the party leaders nor the candidates are stressing about the manifesto and the promises in election speeches and meetings.

Irfan Aziz: We are reaching out to every Lok Sabha contestant. On behalf of AIPC, we are allotting a team to each candidate and giving training on Nyay Patra, the contents of it, and what promises to highlight during their campaign. Even candidate’s teams are being trained. Each contestant has also been told to take up door-to-door visits to create awareness among voters about the manifesto. AIPC has also formed booth-level teams and they will be visiting each doorstep in their segment to enlighten the public.

Navika Harshe: Under AIPC, we have two wings --the research wing which I lead, and the other organization team that will be touring the entire country to undertake door-to-door visits along with AIPC professionals and volunteers. We will be distributing pamphlets and material to the people so that they get a better understanding of the manifesto and guarantees. This manifesto contains something for every section of society. What we offer to each one of them would be clearly explained. Every class in the country be it the poor or the middle class has been neglected in the last 10 years.

NM: Being a Hyderabadi, what do you think about Congress’ chances in the city? The party candidate has been finalized very late and it is bound to impact your chances. How many seats the party is expecting to win in Telangana?

Irfan Aziz: Every constituency, be it Hyderabad or Secunderabad, is important to us. Congress will put up a strong fight everywhere and we have good winning chances. Not just campaigning and working on the ground, we are also working back-end for candidates’ victory.

We are hopeful of winning 12 to 14 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. The objective of all Congressmen is to ensure a maximum number of seats in Telangana and help INDI Alliance form government and Rahul Gandhi becomes the next Prime Minister of the country.