TMC Fearmongers on CAA, NRC In Its Poll Manifesto | 10 Promises

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister-led Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, April 17, released its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. TMC manifesto promises to repeal CAA, stop NRC. Coochbehar, Alipurduar, and Jalpaiguri will go to the polls in the first phase on April 19. 

Trinamool Congress' major chunk formed the repeated welfare schemes, while the TMC promised to repeal Citizenship Amendment Act, introduced and implemented by the BJP-led central government. “We also promise to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and stop the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in the country,” Amit Mitra said. TMC's manifesto also said that implementation of Uniform Civil Code will be stopped. 

Principal Chief Advisor to Chief Minister, West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, Dr Amit Mitra says, "NRC will be stopped. UCC will not be implemented across the country. The BJP is destroying the basic structure of democracy. Our leadership when they went to Delhi was humiliated. We will be fighting against all of these major issues..."

Christened 'Didir Shopoth' (Didi's pledges), the TMC promises to provide guaranteed employment, universal housing, free LPG cylinders, assured minimum support price for farmers, scholarships for SC, ST, and OBC students, among other initiatives, to uplift the living standards of the masses.

Here are the highlights of TMC's manifesto 

1. Repeal CAA 
2. Stop NRC 
3. Stop implementation of UCC 
4. Ration at doorstep 
5. 10 free cooking cylinders for BPL families
6. Guarantee of 100-day work for job card holders 
7. Controlled petrol and diesel prices 
8. Free housing 
9. Increased allowance for higher education of the SC/ST 
10. Apprenticeship for the young students

Releasing the manifesto at the party headquarters here, TMC's Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O' Brien said, "these are the promises which we will fulfill as part of INDI bloc, when it forms the next government." 

The TMC walked out of the INDI bloc in January over disagreements regarding seat-sharing with the Congress in Bengal. However, the Mamata Banerjee-led party had said it continues to be part of the INDIA bloc at the national level.