BJP's Freebie Paradox On Promise Day — A Look At What BJP Pledged To Delhi Voters Before Polls
Delhi elected the BJP on its pre-poll promises. Notably, the BJP has pledged to implement freebie schemes and continue existing ones, a policy that it opposed earlier.
Delhi has decided it wants the BJP's double-engine government. First, it voted for the BJP in all the seven Lok Sabha constituencies and then it elected the saffron party to power in Delhi. While freebie and welfare promises were similar in the BJP and AAP manifestoes, the BJP seems to have broken through the AAP's middle-class voter base with changes in the income tax slabs and scored on the corruption allegations against senior AAP leaders such as Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Satyendar Jain.
Before the elections, Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP would stop all 'free' schemes in Delhi if it came to power; the BJP claimed otherwise and promised even more freebies. But now that it is in power, the BJP will have to prove that it will not go back on its words.
BJP's 16 Vows For Delhiites
The BJP wooed Delhi voters with its ambitious pre-poll promises including those of freebies, which it once slammed. Check out the 16 vows it took in its manifesto for the Delhi elections.
"Our government will not only continue existing schemes, but we will also make them more effective by eliminating corruption in these schemes."
"We will provide financial assistance of Rs 2,500 monthly to women from poor families under Mahila Samriddhi Yojana.
"We will provide assistance of Rs 21,000 and 6 nutritional kits to every pregnant woman under Mukhya Mantri Matritva Suraksha Yojana."
"We will provide LPG cylinders for Rs 500 to women from poor families, and one free cylinder each on the occasion of Holi and Deepawali."
"In our first cabinet meeting, we will implement the central government’s Ayushman Bharat Yojana, to provide free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh and the state government will provide Rs 5 lakh additional cover for all the poor families."
"We will provide free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh under Ayushman Bharat Yojana and the state government will provide Rs 5 lakh additional cover, along with free OPD and diagnostic services to all the 70+ senior citizens."
"We will increase the senior citizens' pension for citizens aged 60-70 from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 and for senior citizens aged 70+, widows, divyang [handicapped] and the destitute from Rs 500 to Rs 3,000."
"We will establish Atal Canteens in JJ clusters to provide nutritious meals at Rs 5."
"Our government will not make any excuses or blame others for the problems related to Delhi’s health, traffic, electricity, water, transport, etc and will find effective solutions by collaborating with the neighbouring states, MCD, NDMC, and the central government."
"We will adopt a 'zero tolerance' policy against the widespread misgovernance and corruption of AAP-DA [Aam Aadmi Party], and we will constitute an SIT to investigate the scams related to DTC, Mohalla Clinic, Classroom, Excise Policy, Jal Board, etc."
"We will provide free KG to PG education to poor students taking admission in Delhi’s government institutions."
"We will empower Delhi’s youth to prepare for various competitive examinations of the state government by: (a) Providing one-time financial assistance of Rs15,000. (b) Reimbursing travel cost to the examination centre and application fee for up to 2 attempts."
"We will launch the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Stipend Scheme in Delhi to provide a monthly stipend of Rs 1,000 to Scheduled Caste students pursuing technical and vocational courses in ITIs, skill centres, polytechnics etc."
"We will establish ‘Welfare Boards’ for all auto, taxi drivers and domestic workers under which we will provide life insurance up to Rs 10 lakh, accident insurance up to Rs 5 lakh and offer scholarships to their children for higher education. Additionally, we will provide subsidy on vehicle insurance to auto and taxi drivers, and provide paid maternity leave up to 6 months to all domestic workers."
"We will double the number of street vendor beneficiaries under the PM SVANidhi scheme."
"We will ensure the 100% registration of all eligible farmers in Delhi under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana and increase the annual assistance from Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000."
Apart from these, the BJP has also promised a pollution-free Delhi and a clean Yamuna. "We will ensure that Delhi becomes one of the cleanest and greenest cities and that the Yamuna regains its former glory," the party says in its Sankalp Patra.
Will There Be Free Electricity And Water For Delhi Residents?
While the BJP has explicitly mentioned in its manifesto that it will provide free water to all residents of Delhi, it makes no mention of free electricity. It also said that the government will continue to provide free DTC bus services to women and transgenders.
The BJP, though, does say in its first vow that it would continue all existing schemes. This, in theory, would include the free 200 units of electricity that the AAP government was providing. Amit Shah in his pre-poll rallies had also promised the same.
However, the party's manifesto promises free electricity to poor households under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana.
Will Delhi Get Its Statehood?
The BJP's election in Delhi after nearly three decades also means that for the first time in 27 years, the BJP will be in power at the Centre as well as in Delhi at the same time. Harsh Vardhan, who was the BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate in 2013, issued a statement in 2006, saying: "Now there is the rule of Congress in Delhi and at Centre what is the difficulty with the Congress in providing full Statehood to Delhi."
Every party that has been in power in Delhi has advocated full statehood for the Union Territory. In May 2024, Arvind Kejriwal was the latest to demand the same on behalf of the INDIA bloc. However, there is no mention of statehood in the BJP manifesto, nor did the party make any mention of it in pre-poll campaigns.
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