Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
New Delhi, January 15: Rahul Gandhi welcomed former minister Manpreet Singh Badal to the Congress fold saying, “The agenda of People’s Party of Punjab is now Congess agenda”. This marked the merger of PPP headed by Manpreet with the Congress.
Here is the text of the agenda that he submitted to Rahul:
It has been one of my life’s greatest regrets that my life tenure from youth onwards, has coincided with Punjab’s steep decline. Born in 1962, I was proud to be a Punjabi as I basked in being the son-of-soil of a state that was regarded as the pride of India. Visionary leaders like Sardar Pratap Singh Kairon, harnessed Punjab’s true potential and put it on the highest pedestal. However, as I stepped in adulthood I could see that things were changing for the worse in Punjab. The violence of 1980s and early 1990s ensured that Punjab lost a full decade. Strong leadership and resilience of Punjab’s people ensured that Punjab defeated terrorism. There were renewed hopes of Punjab finding its past glory in fields of agriculture, industry, sports, culture and being a model state for economic development and social justice. When I got a chance to be a part of the government as a finance minister in 2007,
I was extremely excited that I had a chance to contribute to
Punjab’s revival story. As finance minister I took my role seriously.
I started curtailing needless expenditure, excesses of government’s nepotism and attempted to infuse efficiency in the way
government functions. The UPA government led by Honourbale
Smt Sonia Gandhi and Honourable Sardar Manmohan Singh, was concerned about Punjab and was willing to extend a helping hand, provided the state leadership showed resolve to set its house in order. I actively tried to convince the government to act against corruption, tax evasion, wasteful expenditure, politician-police nexus, oligopolies, drug menace and other social evils, but voicing my concerns for people of Punjab was construed as my acting against the government. It was forgotten that when I took oath as a finance minister, I had committed to serve the people of Punjab and act with their best interests in mind .
I resigned and five winters ago, we constituted the People’s Party of Punjab to embark on a new path. The idea was to awaken Punjab from its somnolence and to translate the dream of bringing Punjab to the front ranks of the Indian provinces in terms of economic and social development indicators. Our aspiration has been to bring about a change for better in a state that has been getting deeper and deeper into a toxic morass.
In the last one year, especially after the Lok Sabha elections, we have been consistently getting feedback, that in order to play a more meaningful role in the polity of Punjab, we need to do more than be mere sentinels from the side lines. People are keen for us to be a part of the political mainstream. The people of Punjab are aware of our agenda and what we are committed to deliver. At the same time, they are fully conscious that the ruling establishment would do everything to destroy this movement. Rather than see us suffer, now they want us to take them on.
The need of the hour is that secular, democratic and progressive forces with a similar commitment to a bigger cause of saving Punjab from depravation and destruction, should join hands. The situation calls for putting up a common front against the ruling Akali Dal-BJP alliance where one half represents misrule and corruption, while the other half represents communalism and fundamentalism.
Our broad agenda is as follows:
To put a decisive end to VIP, VVIP, VVVIP culture in the state and remove nepotism and favourtism from the government functioning.
To provide social justice toevery section of society.
To bring Punjab’s agriculture to the forefront of India’s farm sector in terms of quality of produce and returns to the farmers and boost farm sector income through value addition, so that the farmers are not forced to commit suicides.
To kick start private investment in the state (other than the real estate sector) to create meaningful jobs for the youth and provide them the opportunity to contribute to Punjab’s economic progress, to convert Punjab into land of opportunities.
To check rapid decline in state’s finances and remove the ignominious stigma of Punjab being the most indebted state in the country. To drastically reduce wasteful government expenditure. To improve revenue, not by implementing new levies but by improving existing tax mechanism and adherence.
To end stranglehold of a few individuals and families on state’s natural resources and prevent their rampant misuse.
Zero tolerance for corruption, especially in police and civil administration through transparent citizen focused governance. Recruitment to be purely on merit and in a totally transparent manner leaving no scope for favouritism.
To end drug menace by making its eradication a top priority for the government. If Punjab can put an end to more than a decade long politics of violence, there is no reason that this scourge cannot be eradicated.
To restore Punjab to its rightful place in terms of sports and culture glory. To channelize the energy and enthusiasm of youth to constructive avenues and to eradicate the virus that is eating into the social and moral fabric of Punjab.
To save our rivers, ground water, soil and air from pollution.
To end the vicious nexus between politicians and police and ensure that police functions within the letter and spirit of the law.
This broadly was the agenda articulated when PPP was formed. This is the agenda on which we have stressed repeatedly during the last five years. This is the agenda, the people’s agenda, to which we remain committed. The path is the same as the journey continues.
