Shri P. Chidambaram, Chairman, Manifesto Committee for 2024 Lok Sabha Elections addressed at the Congress Manifesto function at AICC Hdqrs on April 5, 2024.

Hon’ble Congress President, Hon’ble former Congress President Smt. Sonia Ji, Hon’ble former Congress President Shri Rahul Ji, General Secretary Shri K.C. Venugopal, members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Senior leaders of the Congress, Karyakartas of the Congress, members of the media.

I am thankful to the Congress President for releasing the Congress manifesto for the 2024 elections. Earlier, the draft Congress manifesto was thoroughly discussed in the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the recommendations of the members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) were taken into consideration, and over the final approval of the Congress President, some changes were made to the draft manifesto and what we have today is the final manifesto approved by the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and the Congress President. The broad theme of the manifesto is ‘Justice’. Every aspect of justice has been threatened, weakened, diminished and in some cases, denied in the last 10 years, especially in the last 5 years. Members of the media will recall that in 2019, we had warned of, what is likely to happen between 2019 and 2024, should the BJP come back to power. We were not soothsayer, but we were active workers on the ground, who could sense what is happening in this country. I am sorry to report that what we had predicted in 2019, has come to a pass in 2024.

We had said- institutions will be diminished or captured, that is happened. We had said- freedom will be restricted and that is happened. We had said that the weaker sections of the people will be denied their rights and their privileges, that is happened.We had said- the Parliament will be diminished, that is happened. We had said that we will inexorably move towards an autocracy. We are already described as an electoral autocracy by many-many thinkers of the world, that is happened. While, we are unhappy that what we had predicted, has happened. We have, in this manifesto, suggested bold measures to reverse the damage, that is happened in the last 5- 10 years.

The overall theme of the Congress Manifesto is three powerful words- Work, Wealth, and Welfare.

I shouldn’t take long; I’ll explain each word in one sentence. ‘Work’ means, we must create jobs. If anybody had any doubt, read the report of the ILO (The International Labour Organization), that was released 10-15 days ago. The government came up with a lame defence through the Chief Economic Advisor for the Defence only, made it worse.

The ILO reports show that unemployment has assumed monstrous proportions in this country. Yesterday, the media carried a report that 30 per cent of the outgoing class in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), the premier Institutions of our country, are unemployed. They have not been placed! ‘Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!’is a cry everywhere in India. The sections on work encapsulates what we will do to create jobs.

The second is ‘Wealth’; Wealth must be created before it is distributed. On the contrary, the five years of the Modi government shows that wages have been stagnant in this country. The average income of the bottom 50 per cent has either remained stagnant, or diminished or decreased for the bottom percentiles.We have to create wealth and that can only be created by growth.

The UPA government delivered 8.5 per cent growth in its first term, 2004 to 2009 and over a ten-year period, Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government had delivered 7.5 per cent growth, even the futile attempt by the BJP government to revise the figures, made it 6.7 per cent, but over the last ten-years, the average growth is only 5.8 per cent and if you count the year that ended on 31st March, given the inflated figures, it will still be 5.9 per cent. The difference between 7.5 and 5.9, may appear to be trivial 1.6 per cent, but it’s not a trivial difference, it is a difference that makes between a moderately, slowing economy and a robust economy.

So, the second broad theme is ‘Wealth’. We have to create wealth, which means we must have investment, capital investment, private investment, government investment, and foreign investment. Once, we create jobs and once, we settle motion policies that will create wealth, this country will go back to the high growth path of the UPA governments.

The third section, which addresses many aspects of justice, is ‘Welfare’. So, work, creating wealth, which results in welfare. The welfare of whom? I have always accused the BJP government, the Modi government is a government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. This government is driven only by the interest of the top one per cent of this country, but we have to look at the bottom 50 per cent. The bottom of the pyramid, the bottom 50 per cent is as important as those, who are well off and on the bottom 50 per cent, as we go down the ladder, the bottom 20 per cent are extremely poor. It has been estimated that 23 crore people are still poor in this country. The UPA government lifted 24 crore people out of poverty and we promise that if the Congress, or a Congress-led government comes to power in 2024, we will lift 23 crore people out of poverty in the next ten-years. That’s possible, it’s doable and I conclude by saying that Congress has done it before and we can do it again.

I appeal to all of you to spread the message of this manifesto to the nook and corner of this country and ask the people to vote for the ‘Hand symbol’ and to vote for all our allied parties throughout this country. Thank you!