Congress promises stability, secularism and new economic agenda
George Iype in New Delhi
Stability, secularism, a sharp and new economic agenda for development, the conspiracy to kill Rajiv Gandhi and an apology over the Babri mosque issue are the major themes of the Congress's election manifesto.
Released today, the manifesto promises a special package for the minorities -- including the setting up of a ministry for minorities -- to woo the Muslims.
Unveiling the party's poll agenda, Congress president Sitaram Kesri said the forthcoming election was ''a battle for running a government''.
The manifesto describes how a mid-term election has been forced upon the people by the "anti-Congressism and non-governance of both the United Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the last 17
months".
The 56-page document, with a cover picture of Kesri, also states that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam could not have killed Rajiv Gandhi without the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham-led government's support.
Alleging that the Inder Kumar Gujral government refused and failed to take action on the Jain Commission's findings, the manifesto says it was the Congress's dharma to ensure that a thorough inquiry was ordered into the Rajiv Gandhi assassination conspiracy.
Terming the UF "a rag-tag combination of regional parties with no ideological coherence" and the BJP "an ugly and fascist face in India politics'', the manifesto says only the Congress is an open, transparent
organisation.
"The Congress's concept of stability is the stability of ideas, policies and programmes," it says, adding that non-Congress governments have never been stable.
As for secularism, the Congress feels it is the rejection of the use of
religion for political ends.
The manifesto presents a three-fold Congress agenda: economic, political and social.
It says the party's 'sharp economic agenda' is to get the wheels of the economy moving once again as they did between 1980 and 1989 and during 1991 and 1996 and to restore confidence among farmers, workers, domestic
entrepreneurs, industrialists and foreign investors.
It promises that the Congress will take immediate measures to restore the health of the capital markets.
Disinvestment of government shareholding in public sector companies and of financial institutions in private companies will be carried out to revive the capital market and offer new investment opportunities to the Indian people.
The party will also make the Insurance Regulatory Authority a statutory body.
Stating that a strong agriculture is the instrument for fighting poverty, the manifesto pledges to increase the flow of credit to farmers through co-operative banks. It will also introduce a special programme for dry land farming.
The Congress promises to boost exports and create employment in the fields of gems, jewellery, leather, software, light engineering and consumer goods manufacturing. New jobs will also be created in horticulture, aquaculture, livestock, afforestation and agro-processing.
The Congress will also amend the Constitution to establish a Commission for Minority Educational Institutions and provide direct affiliation for minority professional institutions to central universities.
The package for minorities promises the launching of a special drive to recruit minorities in the police, the paramilitary and the armed forces.
The party will substantially increase the corpus of the Maulana
Azad Educational Foundation to spread education and literacy.
The party plans to extend reservations to social and educationally backward minorities.
While the party will strictly enforce the Protection of Places of Worship Act with the cut-off date as August 15, 1947, a Congress government will always abide by the Supreme Court ruling on the vexed Ayodhya controversy.
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