Curbing Misuse of Agencies, Statehood to J&K Likely to Figure in Congress Manifesto

Though the focus of the Congress manifesto would be on '5 Nyay' and 25 guarantees for youth, women, farmers and workers, the manifesto would also talk about resetting the economy and foreign policy.

New Delhi: The Congress is likely to promise a mechanism to check misuse of central agencies, ways to protect constitutional institutions, give one rank, one pension to ex-servicemen, ensure the protection of minorities and restore full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and hold early Assembly elections, in the party’s manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“The various constitutional institutions and central agencies have been misused over the past 10 years of the Modi government. There was a detailed discussion over the issue by the members. There will be a section on protecting such institutions and agencies in the party manifesto,” a CWC member said.

On Tuesday, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) discussed the draft manifesto prepared by a panel headed by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and later authorised party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to finalise the document. According to party insiders, though the focus of the Congress manifesto would be on '5 Nyay', which includes 25 guarantees for youth, women, farmers and workers articulated by former party chief Rahul Gandhi and party chief Kharge over the past months, the document would also talk about resetting the economy and foreign policy of the country.

“The manifesto may be called Nyay Patra. It will bring social justice to people,” said the CWC member. As the major thrust would be on the 25 guarantees, which AICC general secretary in-charge of the organisation KC Venugopal described as a ‘game changer’, the party has asked the state units to launch a mass contract programme over the next 30 days and take Rahul’s social justice message to every household.

AICC general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh was, however, careful to dub the 25 guarantees as not being made by a person, but by the Congress party as a whole. “Against the Modi ki guarantees, these will be Congress ki guarantees,” said Ramesh.

Party insiders said the Congress had been expressing concern over the misuse of central probe agencies to target opposition parties over the past 10 years and had also made public appeals that institutions like the Election Commission should not only be neutral, but also seen by the public as such and therefore needed to offer a solution to the problem also.

The party insiders also pointed out that during his recently concluded Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Rahul Gandhi regularly spoke about the need to protect the minorities in the country. In that context, some of the recommendations made by the Justice Sachar panel years ago may find a mention in the poll manifesto, said Congress insiders, adding that the previous UPA government wanted to pass a law to curb communal violence, but could not.

The grand old party is also likely to promise the original version of one rank-one pension scheme for the ex-servicemen approved during the previous UPA government. Over the past 10 years, the Congress has been constantly questioning the version of OROP being implemented by the Modi government.

Along with the OROP, the Congress manifesto is likely to promise the scrapping of the controversial Agniveer armed forces jobs scheme, which recruits youngsters only for four years. Finally, having expressed its concern over the state of affairs in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir since Article 370 was abrogated in 2019, the grand old party is likely to promise full statehood and early elections there if the Congress is voted to power at the Centre. “When we were in power, there used to be over 70 per cent voter turnout in J&K. Why couldn’t the Centre hold Lok Sabha and Assembly polls there,” said a CWC member.