Manipur polls: BJP govt benefitting a few big industrialists, says Priyanka Gandhi

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday said the BJP-led Centre's policy was to benefit big industrialists thereby depriving the poor and middle class, and not providing political and cultural space for people of different religions, castes and regions.

The Congress leader was addressing gatherings in Manipur virtually from Delhi.

She said the BJP government at the Centre was generally giving benefits two to three big industrialists of the country who are making thousands of crores a day whereas the poor and middle class people are not getting any support from the government.

"The individual voices are being throttled and suppressed by the BJP. The party made so many promises before the elections, but after the election the BJP ignored Manipur and the Northeast region. Everything has been imposed from the Centre," Priyanka said.

Saying that the politics of BJP and Congress is different, she accused the saffron party of not giving space to the diverse sections of people leading to discrimination and unrest in the society.

Terming Manipur as the jewel of the country, the Congress leader said that there is a huge unemployment crisis in the state despite the tourism sector having great sources of employment opportunities and jobs could be created by helping small and medium scale industries.

Alleging that states, regions and all people of the country are not being treated equally by the BJP, the Congress leader said that the BJP government at the Center and in the states do not respect individual life and culture, different ways of living, diverse opinions causing rising discriminations.

Claiming that the Congress party built the nation and obtained India's Independence, the Congress general secretary said that rampant corruption, unemployment, price rise and undemocratic activities shattered the lives of the people in Manipur.

Demanding 33 per cent reservation for women in the government jobs and free transport for the women in Manipur, the Congress leader said that she has been constantly trying to provide equal opportunities to women while the BJP's ideology never supports this policy.

Noting that Manipur has huge potentiality in tourism, hydroelectric to handloom and handicrafts, she said that if the Congress after the election comes to power unemployment allowance would be given, would protect each ethnic group and community, curb rising drug menaces, provide free health care, resolve unemployment and women's problems. "Congress is always focusing on development and women's empowerment," she stated.

She said that in the 2017 Assembly elections, the Congress got the people's mandate by securing 28 seats (in the 60-member Assembly) but BJP captured power through manipulation, undemocratic process, bullying, bribing and fundamentally following unethical means.

Congress sources said that several other party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi would visit poll-bound Manipur next week. The two-phase elections to the 60-seat Manipur Assembly would be held on February 28 and March 5 and the counting of votes would take place on March 10.