By IANS
Ahmedabad/Rajkot : Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for ignoring the common man, the Congress Sunday released its manifesto for this month’s assembly elections, promising a secure and developed Gujarat.
The party manifesto was released in Ahmedabad by state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki in the presence of party general secretary Digvijay Singh and in Rajkot by Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
The party has promised to create a ‘new age Gujarat’. Its manifesto focuses on law and order, agriculture, irrigation, dairy, poultry and fisheries and also underlines the need of rejuvenating education and sports and women’s welfare.
It promises to create a fund for restarting closed industrial units and setting up a board for development of the diamond industry.
The Congress has also promised to complete the canal network for supply of the Narmada water from the main canal to help farmers in parched areas of Saurashtra and Kutch.
Among the major promises made by the Congress are establishment of a knowledge corridor that would include a top class technical institute in every district.
The party promises to make the state secure, particularly for women and children. It has laid emphasis on providing inclusive development and social justice to all segments of society. The party will implement prohibition totality as the Modi government had initiated gradual relaxation in the policy in the last few years.
The state goes to polls Dec 11 and Dec 16. The BJP is yet to come out with its manifesto.
Singh said action would be taken against those involved in the communal violence of 2002 if the Congress were voted to power.
“None will be spared, Modi or anyone else,” he told reporters in reply to a query whether the party would proceed against those responsible for the violence.
Singh said poor people were exploited in 2002 to commit acts of arson and killings and then left in the lurch to face the consequences. He said about 1,500 people were languishing in jail facing prosecution.
He charged the BJP with unleashing what he called “Hindu terrorism” which was as unacceptable as “Muslim terrorism”.
Accusing Modi of misleading people, Singh said the chief minister’s claims of astronomical investment inflows into the state had turned out to be untrue and the actual investment was abysmally low.
Addressing a press meet in Rajkot, Shinde said his party was sure of coming to power in the state with an absolute majority and would focus on giving inclusive governance.
“This is the land of Mahatama Gandhi who stood for the principle of Sarvoday, taking development to the last man, but the BJP regime has pushed the people to the margins.
“The Congress stands for ‘Satya Ahimsa Parmodharama’ (truth and non-violence are the ultimate religion), but for the Modi government satya is something that it has given up and dharma is just publicity,” Shinde said.
He accused the Narendra Modi government of suppressing the poor and small farmers and of ignoring the law and order situation.
“What can you expect from a government which has failed to carry out proper investigations even in the case pertaining to the assassination of former state home minister Haren Pandya?” Shinde said.
With electricity being a major issue for the Congress campaign, Shinde said the central government had always insisted on Gujarat to increase its generation capacity but the state government had paid no heed.
“If at all there is some addition, it is sold to a few industrial houses and never reaches the masses. The centre has given the state Rs.16,000 crore (Rs.160 billion) for generating 4,000 MW of power. We are willing to give more but they are not adding capacity,” he said.
The Congress has alleged that though the Modi government promised a 20-hour power supply in rural areas, all that it has done is an erratic four-hour supply.
Leader of Opposition Arjun Modhvadia said, “We promise to give electricity connections to everyone and to provide proper supply for at least 14 hours.”