Whatever the Trinamool Congress (TMC) does, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to do better.
Tennis icon Leander Paes, who recently joined the saffron party along with professional boxer Vijender Singh, launched the ‘Yuva Shakti’ card on Thursday, promising Rs 3000 for unemployed youth until they find jobs.
“For every youth until they find a job, we will support with Rs 3000 to make them stand on their feet and give them the courage to shed this fear they have. We will stand with the youth to make Bengal great,” said Leander Paes.
When questioned about where the jobs are in West Bengal, Paes said the BJP government would usher in crores of job opportunities if the people in Bengal bring in change and shed fear.
“The way I have played doubles, the same way Bengal has to play doubles—the way BJP can play the double engine game. This only BJP can do. There should be a good partnership between the Centre and the state. The state will win only if there is a double engine,” Paes added.
“I fully endorse the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi that we run a double partnership from Bengal and the Centre. Bengal will rise again.”
Paes also spoke about joining politics to make a difference from within the system and that he would work tirelessly for Bengal and be the people’s champion.
“I want to be a nation’s champion by empowering our youth and women from the state I was born in,” he noted.
Vijender Singh, on the other hand, spoke about the stark differences between opportunities for sportsmen in Haryana, as compared to Bengal.
“In Haryana, the coaching network and infrastructure is better than Bengal in many ways. In 11 years of the BJP government, 1,200 coaching systems have been developed, while in Bengal only one coach manages the entire game. This is worrying,” said Vijender Singh, who claimed that the sports budget in Haryana was Rs 600 crore while in Bengal it was much lesser.
Singh added that the Bengal budget was also not able to properly reach women and the youth in West Bengal.
“Hence we want the ‘Yuva Shakti’ and ‘Nari Shakti’ (programmes) to come forward this time,” Singh added. He also appealed to the youth to partake in the election process and create a change in the government in West Bengal.
Can the BJP’s monetary schemes win people’s votes?
BJP leader Smriti Irani also handed out ‘Matri Shakti Bharosa Cards’ to five party workers on Wednesday. The scheme is part of the party’s Rs 3000 monthly scheme for women.
Irani termed it a symbolic gesture and a prelude to what was on offer if the BJP were to come to power in West Bengal.
The TMC's Lakshmir Bhandar scheme currently offers Rs 1500 to women in the general category and Rs 1700 to those in the reserved category.
However, the TMC has filed a number of complaints against the BJP over this card, alleging that in the process of registration for the Matri Shakti Bharosa Cards, the saffron party was collecting voter information through forms.
On the same day, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman distributed weaver cards to handloom weavers in Serampore in the Hoogly district. The cards entitle weavers to Central government subsidies, raw material assistance, and loans under MUDRA.
This prompted the TMC to write to the Election Commission (EC), terming it a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
The BJP, which once criticised the politics of doling out money for social welfare schemes, has also stepped into the monetary benefits game.
Their Sankalp Patra (manifesto)—released by Union Home Minister Amit Shah less than a week ago—is the BJP’s way of showing they mean business and will walk the talk, so as to instil voter confidence and swing minds in favour of the saffron party’s initiatives.
By doubling the amount that the TMC government is currently giving out in West Bengal, the saffron party aims to send a message to the people that the double engine government could be a reality in the state.
With a week to go for the first phase of Assembly elections in the state, the saffron party is leaving no stone unturned to create an impression of being the capable mascot to usher in change with enhanced welfare schemes and job opportunities.
It is yet so see whether this can now turn the rain saffron in Mamata's Bengal.