Pune: Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Friday his party’s manifesto was an expression of the people of India and ruled out burdening the middle class to fund the anti-poverty scheme Nyunatam Aay Yojana (Nyay).
The opposition party has said that if voted to power, it will give Rs 72,000 per year as minimum income to poor families, benefiting around 25 crore people, a move Rahul has termed a ‘surgical strike’ on poverty.
Interacting with students here, Rahul said he did not like making sweeping statements. “The manifesto has been prepared after consultations with all stakeholders. The middle class will not be taxed and income tax will not be increased to implement the Nyay scheme where Rs 72,000 will be deposited in bank accounts of poor people every year if the Congress is voted to power,” Rahul asserted.
The ‘Nyay’ scheme is estimated to cost Rs 3.26 lakh crore to the national exchequer. The BJP, which has criticised the scheme, has sought to know how it will be funded.
During the free-wheeling interaction, Rahul answered a number of questions, ranging from politics, his personal life and his bond with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Asked about Priyanka’s twitter post calling him courageous, Rahul replied, “I am persistent, I stand up for people who are weak.”
Rahul described demonetisation as a ‘disastrous idea’, which had a terrible impact on the economy. He said the exercise, announced in 2016, caused two per cent fall in GDP growth and led to loss of millions of jobs.
Rahul also pointed out that the erstwhile Planning Commission was a strategic institution, while its successor Niti Ayaog only talks about implementation and tactics.
“We need institutions to strategically think what should be done at the national level. Implementation and tactics can be done by the states,” Rahul said, responding to a question on the Congress manifesto promise of scrapping Niti Ayaog, the think-tank set up by the Modi government.
On being asked who should take credit for the Balakot air strike, Rahul said, “The (Indian) Air Force should take credit. It is Important that people know they can’t mess around with India.”
The Congress leader said he was against politicization of the air strike. “I feel uncomfortable that PM does that. But it is his choice,” Rahul told the gathering.
PTI