Latest news with #MaiBahinMaanYojana
Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Political activities in Bihar at a pause as parties devote energies to helping voters with EC drive
POLL-related activities of parties in Bihar have come to a pause as they deploy all hands on deck to guide their voters through the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. While all parties have boosted the number of their workers enrolled as Booth Level Agents (BLA), to varying degrees, other workers too have been sent out to meet people – especially in remote rural areas – to help with filling enumeration forms and finding the requisite documents for the SIR. The RJD, which is leading the challenge to the ruling NDA, admitted that the momentum of its political activities, ahead of the approaching elections, has taken a hit. RJD spokesperson Nawal Kishore said the party had been gearing up to take to the people 'the vision and ideas' of party leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, while exposing the 'failures' of the NDA government, especially on law and order. The RJD also planned to reach out to at least one lakh women with application forms of the 'Mai Bahin Maan Yojana' – entitling every woman to Rs 2,500 monthly if the Mahagathbandhan came to power – across all the 243 Assembly constituencies. However, the party's energies are now devoted to handling the SIR. The poor and marginalised, who are a key RJD vote bank, are likely to be the worst hit in the roll revision exercise as most of them don't have the documents the EC wants. On July 9, a rally by the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, which includes the Congress and Left parties, focused on the SIR issue. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi participated in a protest march along with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, while the alliance enforced a bandh across the state. AICC secretary Shahnawaz Alam, who has been assigned Bihar for organisational work by the party, says the Congress has appointed BLAs for all Assembly seats. The party is trying to tie up its ongoing programmes with the SIR outreach, and so its workers who have the goal of contacting up to 400 houses daily to publicise Mai Bahin Maan Yojana are also helping people fill up SIR enumeration forms. The Congress recently organised a workshop of its district president and observers in Patna on the SIR. It has also been emphasising in its meetings with specific communities, like OBCs, Dalits and tribals, that through the SIR, the BJP government at the Centre wanted 'to delete names of its opponents from the electoral rolls'. AIMIM spokesperson Adil Hasan said that while the party, still a relatively new entrant in Bihar, does not have BLAs, its local office-bearers are pitching in. 'They inform EC officials if they receive information about Booth Level Officers refusing to accept Aadhaar, or rejecting enumeration forms on grounds of them being incomplete, or turning down requests to correct voter details in electoral rolls,' Hasan said. AIMIM workers are also helping voters fill up application forms, and procure documents such as caste, birth and domicile from the appropriate authorities. The AIMIM has particularly upped its outreach in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal, where it found electoral success in 2020 and where anxiety about the SIR is the most. Later this month, the party proposes to hold an 'Insaf Sammelan (Justice Meeting)' in Gaya, to be addressed by chief Asaduddin Owaisi. A marginal player in Bihar, the BSP has also diverted its energy to the SIR issue, and has announced camps in nearly 50 Assembly constituencies along the border with its home state Uttar Pradesh, to guide its core vote base Dalits and EBCs in getting their names into the updated electoral rolls. BSP leaders said the party plans to hold camps across all the seats. The party began its public and worker meetings a while back, and on June 26, the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj, held a programme in Patna that was addressed by its chief national coordinator Akash Anand. A senior BSP functionary said: 'The party had decided to hold one such meeting every month. But this idea has been put on hold now due to the SIR… As most of the voters in rural areas of these 50 seats (the party is concentrating on) are poor and not aware about the process to be followed to obtain certificates of caste, birth and domicile, BSP workers are guiding them.' In the 2020 polls, the BSP had contested in alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and AIMIM. Its candidate Zama Khan was elected MLA from Chainpur, but later joined the JD(U) and is currently a minister in the Nitish Kumar government. Unlike Opposition parties, the NDA constituents are more relaxed about the SIR drive. The biggest JD(U) outreach so far has been the cycle rallies it took out on July 8 to create awareness about the need to re-register as voters and how to go about it. JD(U) spokesperson Anjum Ara said their BLAs were fully cooperating with Booth Level Officers, and helping clear 'misconceptions' spread by the Opposition regarding the SIR. 'The poor, deprived, OBCs, most backwards and Dalits were in maximum panic. But now there is no panic. Even people who do not have documents, their forms are being accepted. We are keeping an eye on the voters' list to ensure that those eligible are not left out,' Ara said.
Hans India
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Rahul Gandhi's photo on sanitary pads in Bihar: JD-U slams Congress for 'ideological bankruptcy'
New Delhi: Congress party's unique women-centric initiative and public outreach via sanitary pads has sparked controversy in the poll-bound Bihar, with political parties reacting sharply to what they called 'weird' attempt to woo voters. The ruling Janata Dal (United) launched a tirade at the grand old party for politicizing issues sensitive to women and called it an example of its ideological bankruptcy. The criticism was triggered by a photograph of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi featuring prominently on sanitary pad packets, being distributed under the party's Priyadarshini Udaan Yojana, aimed at raising menstrual hygiene awareness among women in Bihar. The Congress launched the initiative as part of a larger campaign for women voters in the state. The party claimed that over 5 lakh sanitary pad boxes will be distributed, with an aim to address menstrual health, break social taboos, and also spread awareness across rural and urban areas alike. However, JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar strongly criticised the Congress over the move. "What has happened to the Congress Party?" he asked, calling the strategy a shallow electoral gimmick. 'Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been working continuously to empower the daughters and sisters of state, to empower them and to build a robust landscape for their overall development. The election year has come; daughters, women are a symbol of respect and honour, but you, in an arrogant display of power, put your face on it (sanitary pads),' he said, slamming the use of Rahul Gandhi's image on the sanitary pads. Neeraj Kumar further said the Congress's alliance with a party like the RJD has led to such political missteps. 'It shows, in politics, what is called ideological bankruptcy or lack of intellect. Not understanding the situation, or, naturally, the outcomes of being with a party like RJD, which is known for its political misdeeds, the effect of that co-operation was seen.' The sanitary pad distribution is part of the party's Priyadarshini Udaan Yojana, under which the Congress claims to be advocating for menstrual hygiene and awareness. In addition, the party has unveiled the Mai Bahin Maan Yojana, a flagship welfare scheme for the economic empowerment for women. Under the Mai Bahin Maan Yojana, the Congress promises to provide Rs 2,500 per month directly into the bank accounts of economically disadvantaged women, if the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) forms the government in Bihar.
