Friday, 27 September 2024
Friday, 27 September 2024
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has every reason to be pleased as punch with the BJP.
On Friday, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union minister for agriculture and farmers welfare, promised financial help of Rs 2,000 per month to women if BJP is voted to power in Jharkhand.
That means the BJP is following in Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s footsteps.
Under Mamata’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, the Bengal government transfers Rs 1,000 for SC/ST women in the age group of 25 to 60 and Rs 1,200 to women in the general category every month.
The BJP taking a leaf out of the Trinamul chief’s playbook stands out also because India’s ruling party, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have often railed against handouts as government policy.
“Those in power love the doles. Doles not to empower the poor. They were given so that poor remain poor and they remain at mercy of political class,” the prime minister was quoted as saying at the India Today Conclave in March 2019 by the right-wing website OpIndia.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s promise of Rs 2,000 per month to Jharkhand’s women came during a campaign rally in Latehar on Friday. Jharkhand goes to vote in November-December. The term of the present 81-member Assembly ends on January 5 next year.
Chouhan’s poll promise follows a trend of wooing women voters, who can make or break a party’s fortunes in any election. In Bihar, for example, chief minister Nitish Kumar’s success is often attributed to solid support from the women for his initiatives including prohibition.
Political pundits say Lakhsmir Bhandar has been a key factor behind Mamata’s electoral success since August 2021, when it was launched.
Women voters, who comprise over 49 per cent of Bengal’s electorate, rewarded the Trinamul with 29 of the state’s 42 seats in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year.
That Lakshmir Bhandar was working for the Trinamul was made evidently clear also when the BJP made a promise during their Lok Sabha 2024 campaign in Bengal to implement a scheme called Annapurna Bhandar that would give a Rs 3,000 a month to every woman.
It is not only in Jharkhand that the BJP is emulating the “Mamata model”.
On August 18, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde was quoted as saying by PTI during a poll campaign rally at Satara: “My government will not stop at Rs 1,500. If you give us strength, the money will increase.”
He was referring to his government’s Ladki Behen scheme. Shinde promised to increase the dole to Rs 3,000.
Maharashtra goes to vote in November this year.
It is also not only Mamata who has reaped the electoral benefits of such a scheme. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, when he was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, had launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana’ on March 5, 2023, prior to the Assembly polls.
The scheme promised Rs 1,000 to each woman in the state. The BJP formed the government with a thumping majority.
But do doles help women?
“It is a cheap way to divert attention from the state's inability to create market opportunities for women,” Indraneel Dasgupta, professor of Economics at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, told The Telegraph Online.
“India has one of the lowest rates of female labour force participation. Even then, this rate has been falling steadily in recent years. The burden on the state exchequer will be huge and cut into developmental spending – permanent asset creation – health, education or physical infrastructure.”
The Bengal government allocated Rs 14,400 crore for Lakshmir Bhandar in their budget 2024-25. The Maharashtra government allocated Rs 46,000 crore for their Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana this budget.
Dhritiman Gupta, assistant professor, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, agreed.
“Given political competition has gone up, these schemes open the door for vote-bank politics,” Gupta told The Telegraph Online.
“Of course, it helps backward women because they receive a substantial part of income in form of these transfers, which may allow them considerable freedom in making good choices such as saving up the money. It is a burden on the government finances because it is a pure transfer which does not go to creating any public good as such,” he added.
The BJP has competition in Jharkhand when it comes to wooing women voters.
Right after Chouhan made the promise on Friday, JMM MLA Kalpana Soren also reportedly assured that the state government scheme of ‘Mainya Samman Yojana’ will continue interrupted,
The scheme provides financial help of Rs 1,000 per month to women beneficiaries in the age group of 21-49 years. The JMM government launched the scheme on August 20 this year.
On March 5 this year, then Delhi finance minister Atishi also announced a scheme where every woman would get Rs 1,000 per month. Atishi has become the chief minister but the scheme is yet to be implemented.
There are instances of parties coming back to power riding on women voters. And there are instances of false promises too.
In 2022, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had announced Rs 1,000 per month to all women of the state if voted to power. The scheme is yet to be implemented.
