The Congress, after allying with perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front and Bodoland People’s Front, looks confident about the electoral arithmetic. Considering Assam’s complex ethnic equation, the party is having a no-frills campaign, as opposed to the BJP’s strategy of carpet-bombing the state with a stellar cast of leaders. Both alliances are on the opposite ends of the cultural debate over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and are trying to get their chemistry right with the electorate.
For getting its Assam strategy right, the Congress is relying on success lessons from the last Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan assembly elections. This has resulted in five guarantees in the manifesto: New law to counter the CAA,₹2,000 per month to homemakers, daily wage of ₹365 for tea workers, five lakh new jobs, and 200 units of free electricity to every household. “These are guarantees, and not poll promises,” said Bobbeeta Sharma, general secretary, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee. “They will be fulfilled when the Congress comes to power.” If the CAA guarantee is aimed at addressing the culturally emotive issue, the other promises are inspired by welfare schemes the Congress implemented in states like Chhattisgarh.
Esta historia es de la edición April 04, 2021 de THE WEEK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición April 04, 2021 de THE WEEK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Pressure Points
Author and MP Shashi Tharoor and motivational speaker Gaur Gopal Das on how to find healing and meaning in today's world
War Over Wounded Earth
For the BJP andthe Congress, the ravaged farmlands of Vidarbha represent a cxitieal battleground in their larger struggle to win Maharashtra
Say no to continual elections
Following the recommendations of a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind to streamline the widely scattered schedule of national, state and local elections, the Union cabinet has reportedly approved two constitutional amendment bills for likely introduction in Parliament. Predictably, the return of the ‘one nation, one election’ issue to news has set off a flurry of objections by several opposition leaders.
Fabulously, fashionably funny
The third season of the Karan Johar-produced Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives dropped on Netflix, but articles criticising the show appear in some news site or the other almost daily. If it is so bad, why keep writing about it? And if it is so bad, why would the superpowers at Netflix, who are harder to meet than the prime minister, commission the show season after season?
All in the family
The Chitaras have been passing down the secret art of Mata Ni Pachedi through generations for more than 400 years now
Raise a toast to Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan is a New Year baby. At 45, she is aglow in the most beautiful way, having won the hearts and admiration of countless fans across the world, who watched the supremely talented actor take a public tumble on stage at a high-profile promotional event recently, sharing the platform with no less a dancer than the eternally graceful Madhuri Dixit.
Death no bar
Being alive is not a legal requirement to be elected president of the United States
The Lotus POTUS
You should visit us one of these days— there is so much excitement in our USA! No, I don’t mean the famous USA—the Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association of Mumbai.
RAY OF HOPE
Actor and cancer survivor Lisa Ray talks to oncologist Dr Jame Abraham about inner strength and her surrogacy journey
LEVERAGE AI TO ENHANCE WORK
AT THE WEEK Health Summit, Siddharth Bagga, head (retail, CPG and health care), Google Cloud, elaborated on the significant work that Google has been doing in health care through artificial intelligence (AI).
