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     In Election Manifesto, India's Ruling Party Promises Inclusive Growth

   by Anjana Pasricha

   India's ruling Congress party has promised inclusive growth and
   unveiled a raft of anti-poverty policies as it seeks to woo voters in
   general elections starting April 7. As polls forecast major losses for
   the Congress party, its top leader, Rahul Gandhi, has mounted a sharp
   attack on the party's main opponent.

   A right to health care and housing, pensions for the elderly and
   disabled and the creation of 100 million new jobs are among the
   measures India's ruling Congress party promised as it unveiled its
   election manifesto in New Delhi Wednesday.

   Hurt by public anger over a series of corruption scandals and high
   inflation, polls have forecast that the party will be unable to win a
   third term in office in elections starting next month.

   Seeking to wrest back the initiative from its main rival, the Bharatiya
   Janata Party, Congress is focusing on programs to woo the poor, who
   make up the bulk of the country's 814-million electorate and the
   party's core constituency. The Congress Party calls its manifesto "Your
   Voice, Our Pledge."

   Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his party will revive the declining
   economy and its manufacturing sector to lift millions of people out of
   poverty.  "Growth by itself is not sufficient to achieve the solid
   results of an inclusive growth process. It needs to be backed by
   adequate concern about education, about health, about the needs of our
   women, scheduled castes, and scheduled tribes," he said.

   Disillusioned by the Congress Party, which is being blamed for the
   plummeting economy, most business leaders are backing the opposition
   Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP's main focus has been on the need for
   more development, jobs and investment in India.

   But the incumbent party is promising to balance the interests of both
   big business and the poor. Rahul Gandhi is leading Congress' electoral
   campaign.

   "The only way India is going to move forward is with a partnership that
   includes the poor, that includes the dispossessed and includes
   business. If you try to construct a government model that focuses only
   on business or only on the poor you will not take India forward,"
   Gandhi said.

   The ruling Congress Party is also pledging to be more inclusive than
   its main opposition. Congress President Sonia Gandhi said the upcoming
   elections are not just about economic and social programs, but her
   party's fight to keep India's secular fabric intact.

   The comments directly target the BJP and its prime ministerial
   candidate Narendra Modi. Modi's critics question his commitment to
   secularism and accuse of him of not doing enough to stop riots which
   killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, in his Gujarat state in
   2002.

   Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi said that Modi represents a
   vision that is "exclusionary" and will harm the country as it pits one
   against another.   "The issue here is an ideology and it is an ideology
   that is basically questioning the fundamentals of what this country
   stands for. It is basically questioning the idea of this country. That
   is why I am against him," he stated. "The real issue is the dangers
   represented by the ideology."

   The BJP dismisses the Congress Party's criticism and says such fears
   are meant to woo Muslim votes. While the BJP is not forecast to win an
   outright majority in parliament, it is expected to unseat the Congress
   party.

   A confident Gandhi however dismissed polls forecasting major losses for
   his party and said Wednesday that election results will surprise
   everyone.

   The five-week poll will continue until May 12. Votes will be counted on
   May 16.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/in-election-manifesto-indias-ruling-p
   arty-promises-inclusive-growth/1879440.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/in-election-manifesto-indias-ruling-party-promises-inclusive-growth/1879440.html