Patna, Nov. 1: The RJD today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not doing anything for Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), Anganwadi workers and farmers and not setting up another AIIMS in the state as promised.
It vowed to launch a Kaam ki Baat campaign in protest against this. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks his Mann ki Baat (whatever is on his mind) on TV and radio, but nothing moves on the ground," RJD vice-president and former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said today. "Promises he made in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and even later on remain unfulfilled. Our party is going to start ' Kaam ki Baat' protests every month to push for initiation of welfare schemes for various sections of society."
Attacking Modi further over his "Mann ki Baat" programme, Raghuvansh pointed out that the Prime Minister had acknowledged that he heard from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates about the good work undertaken by ASHA in rural parts of the country . "It is most unfortunate when the Prime Minister, who has also been a chief minister, expresses his ignorance like this," the RJD leader said. Raghuvansh said 9 lakh ASHA workers were working across the country and not getting any pay despite their good work. They are paid per child they help deliver in villages, which comes to a pittance.
Speaking in the presence of the RJD's Bihar unit chief, Ram Chandra Purbey, Raghuvansh said Anganwadi sahayikas get a measly Rs 1,500 a month and sevikas Rs 3,000 a month. But the Centre has passed laws and stipulated Rs 350 per day (around Rs 10,500 a month) as minimum wage for agricultural labourers in the country. "Is it fair for Anganwadi workers to earn even less than agricultural labourers," Raghuvansh asked. "We'll demand an honourable honorarium for them. High wages for agricultural labourers also increases the burden on farmers, thus proving that the Narendra Modi government is not in the least bothered about them (farmers)."
RJD sources said the tempo of "Kaam ki Baat" programmes will gradually increase and reach crescendo by the time 2019 general elections are declared.
According to the format, the programme will be held for the masses and seek to counter what the Prime Minister says in his "Mann ki Baat" programme.