Lucknow: A piquant situation arose at Congress headquarters in Lucknow when Muslim women gathered with ‘guarantee cards’, demanding financial benefits as promised by the party in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls. 

The Congress-led INDI alliance put up a surprise performance in the Lok Sabha elections, especially in Uttar Pradesh. The party distributed ‘guarantee cards’ to many households, pledging financial benefits to the woman head of every poor family. 

The card was to provide Rs 1 lakh annually to the female head of every impoverished family and Rs 8,500 per month to families living below the poverty line. The visuals from outside the Congress party office showed women lined up in the sweltering heat to submit the ‘guarantee cards,' filled up with their bank account and personal details. 

Talking to Republic, a woman said, “We have come here to submit the guarantee cards. After seeing Congress' performance in the Lok Sabha election, we are hopeful that we will get the financial benefits as promised by the party.” 

Congress' ‘Khatakhat’ Promise

Outside the party office, some demanded ‘guarantee cards,' while those who already received them were lined up to submit to get the promised ‘money’ in their bank accounts, a process called 'Khatakhat' by the INDI leaders during the poll campaigns.

The Congress had launched the 'Ghar Ghar Guarantee' programme under which leaders were tasked to reach out to nearly 80 million households and make them aware of its 25 guarantees. 

Among these guarantees was the Mahalakshmi scheme under which the party promised that Rs 8,500 would be directly credited into the account of women heads of poor families. 

Rahul Gandhi's ‘Khatakhat’ Promise 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on May 28 asserted that after June 5, the money will be transferred to the bank accounts of poor women if the INDIA bloc wins the Lok Sabha elections.

“We are going to deposit lakhs of crores of rupees in the bank accounts of the poor in India. Under the Mahalakshmi scheme, a list will be prepared of the poor people in the country... From every poor family, a woman's name will be selected.”  

Addressing an election rally in Varanasi, he added, "On 5th July, Rs 8,500 will be credited to the bank accounts of crores of poor women in the country... This will continue from July to August to September, October, November, December and so on ‘khata-khat, khata-khat, khata-khat andar’."