Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday pressed a button from Delhi to effect a ₹10,000 cash transfer each to the bank accounts of 75 lakh Bihar women under an employment plan, launched in the run-up to the October-November Assembly polls.
At ₹7,500 crore, the total sum distributed under the Bihar government’s Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana is one of the biggest cash doles disbursed ahead of an Assembly election.
Ironically, Modi had a few years ago disparaged freebies given by Opposition parties as “revdi (a cheap sweet) politics”.
On Friday, Modi described the Bihar dole as “seed money” from “brothers Narendra and Nitish” to help poor women associated with self-help groups to start their own ventures.
It’s unusual for a Prime Minister to give out money under a state government scheme, but Modi is considered the NDA’s poll mascot.
A state government release referred to the cash as an “initial grant” and mentioned “the possibility of additional financial support of up to ₹2 lakh in subsequent phases”.
“Your two brothers, Narendra and Nitish, are working tirelessly for your prosperity and self-respect,” Modi said, addressing groups of women assembled at various locations in Bihar through video-conferencing from Delhi.
Battling the accumulated anti-incumbency of two decades, the Nitish government has already announced several welfare measures ahead of the polls, targeting women, the youth and the elderly.
In his speech, Modi alluded obliquely to the upcoming Bihar elections and told the women to ensure the RJD didn’t return to power.
“Women suffered the most under RJD rule. There were no roads and no law and order. It was jungle raj. Bihar cannot afford to return to the same era,” Modi said, adding that women felt safe under the Nitish government.
He urged women to visit an exhibition to be held by the NDA to recall the “jungle raj” days under the RJD.
The Opposition Mahagathbandhan, having promised a monthly ₹2,500 allowance for poor women if voted to power and launched a drive to get women to fill out application forms, could not directly condemn the dole.
Instead, its leaders such as Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra questioned the timing of the cash transfer.
“Why are they doing this just before elections? Whose government was in power for the last 20 years?” she told reporters in Patna. “Today, they gave the money but will they give it on a monthly basis? They have rushed a scheme just before the elections hoping the women will vote for them. But the women are smart and they won’t get fooled.”
RJD leader and the principal challenger to the NDA, Tejashwi Yadav, accused Modi of trying to copy the Mahagathbandhan’s monthly dole promise.
“Modi has not given a single penny of central government funds. They are giving ₹10,000 now with the clause that further assistance will come after a review,” he told reporters.