Arvind Kejriwal promises Rs 1000 per month for Gujarat women, but fails to implement it in Punjab

Chandigarh: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s freebie announcements in the run-up to Punjab assembly polls in February this year were believed to be among the key factors behind the party’s thumping victory in the state.

Months later AAP’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal went on with similar sop announcements in poll-bound Gujarat to achieve Punjab-like success.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent ‘revdi culture’ comment was mainly seen as a jibe against Kejriwal’s freebie politics since AAP is increasing its footprint in Modi's home state where BJP is unbeatable since 1998.

Amid the growing debate about whether freebie politics is a sound policy to deal with various social issues, Kejriwal made another announcement during his Gujarat visit on Wednesday, August 10 after his earlier assurances of free electricity and unemployment allowance to Gujarati youth.

This time he announced Rs 1,000 per month allowance for all women above 18 years of age in Gujarat if his party forms government in the country's western state. 

However, his party, which has been ruling Punjab for the last five months, is yet to implement the scheme. AAP made similar announcement during Punjab elections as well.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann made several statements in the past two months, assuring the scheme’s implementation very soon. But he has not made it time-bound yet.  

Furthermore, AAP’s maiden budget in Punjab that was presented in June this year also skipped the allocation of the necessary budget for the scheme, signalling that women in Punjab will have to wait for more months before they get Rs 1000 per month in their bank accounts.

The opposition in Punjab continues to target AAP for befooling the voters with their “unrealistic” promises.  In a statement, Punjab Congress Chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said, "I want to ask Mr Kejriwal that before making a promise to Gujarati women, it is not his moral responsibility to fulfil this promise first in Punjab."

On the other hand, economists too fear that footing the exorbitant bill required for the scheme’s implementation is a mammoth task especially when the financial condition of the state is extremely poor.

Given that Punjab has over 1 crore women electorates and all are eligible for Rs 1,000 per month, the overall budget required for the scheme’s implementation is more than Rs 10,000 crore per annum.

Year after year, the state is presenting a revenue deficit budget, meaning hereby that it has failed to mop up enough income resources to meet its annual expenses.

The reality bit AAP when the party too presented a revenue deficit budget in June this year, also revealing that the overall debt of the state will increase by over Rs 20,000 crore by end of the current fiscal. 

Economist Lakhwinder Singh told NewsDrum that unless and until the AAP government does not mobilise state resources and increase its revenue, it will not be able to meet the target of its pre-poll announcements.

When asked if the state’s poor financial condition is the reason behind the delay in implementing the cash subsidy scheme for women, AAP spokesperson Malvinder Kang denied it.

He said Punjab has given the mandate to AAP for five years, not for five months. 

“All our pre-poll promises of the AAP are being launched one by one. We have already implemented our promise of free electricity for up to 300 units. We are now launching Mohalla clinics on Independence day. The remaining schemes will also be launched in due course,” he said.

Taking a jibe at the Modi government, he said AAP stands for poor and needy, not like the BJP government which helped waive off loans worth lakhs of crores of Modi's close corporate friends.

Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been repeatedly giving the “waive-off of loans” spin which has been termed as a deliberate lie by the economists and the government. 

“Instead of correcting the misinformation, Aam Aadmi Party is harming its little credibility by repeating the lies,” said a political analyst.