Urban Mirror Correspondent
New Delhi, January 30: The Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) today that the Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s announcement promising a minimum income guarantee (MIG) is lopsided and reminiscent of Indira Gandhi’s misguided slogan of “Gharibi Hatao” decades ago which could not yield positive result except capturing power.
The spokesman said here on Wednesday that after thousands of crores of cash dole out to farmers under loan waiver scheme by both BJP and Congress governments in several states, the promises of the Congress president is also aimed at unproductive financial burden on state exchequer. The Samajawadi Party government (2003-07) in Uttar Pradesh under Mulayam Singh Yadav had also distributed hundreds of crore of cash to lakhs of youths in the name of Rs 1000 “unemployment allowance” per month which had virtually gone economically and politically waste, the spokesman said and added the country’s economy requires structural changes and not just cash transfer under MIG or loan waiving of farmers like schemes. The spokesman said India’s major challenge is fighting abysmal poverty to ensure sustained income growth for majority of workforce and such promise as made by Rahul Gandhi could be as directionless and disastrous as demonetisation of NDA government or the 2014 electoral promise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Rs 15 lakh to every bank account of the poor from black money.
The spokesman said that both NDA and UPA have once again launched drive to mislead the people through fake promises in the run up to the general elections. Calling upon the people to be vigilant of such promises the spokesman said that the country required significant hike in education and health expenditure along with improvement in delivery which needed prolonged effort and resources without a promise of political benefit in short-term. The spokesman said it has happened in the case of loan waiver of farmers also. The spokesman any credible MIG plan, loan waiving will have significant fiscal cost which is bound pressure on other expenditure heads. The spokesman said the country required sustained fight against massive corruption at higher places with radical structural improvements and not short-termism. Instead of short-term political benefit the stakeholders should ponder over country’s long-term development, welfare and poverty alleviation programmes with honesty, transparency and good governance, the spokesman commented.
