In the last assembly elections of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party Trinamool Congress (TMC) had made a promise regarding women. This promise was to give Rs 500 and Rs 1000 every month to the female head of every family. Mamata's party formed the government in Bengal for the third consecutive time with a big victory. Mamta government started giving Rs 500 to general category women and Rs 1000 to SC-ST category women every month by implementing a scheme named Lakshmi Bhandar in the year 2021 itself. This was the beginning of direct cash benefits for women.
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This move of Mamata was successfully tried by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party of Delhi in the elections of Punjab and Congress in the elections of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. But it was given a bigger canvas by Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the Chief Minister of the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Madhya Pradesh. After assuming power, Shivraj, who has come up with schemes like Ladli Lakshmi focusing on women voters, explained how such schemes can be implemented and what impact they can have on the elections.
In March 2023, the then CM Shivraj announced the launch of a scheme named Laadli Brahmin and also sent the first installment of Rs 1,000 under the scheme to the accounts of beneficiaries above 21 years of age on June 10. Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections were held in November and women voters gave a return gift to BJP by making them darling. In Madhya Pradesh elections, BJP won 163 out of 230 assembly seats. Ladli Brahmin Yojana was considered a game changer. According to survey reports, there was a big gap between BJP and Congress due to women votes.
BJP also promised to give Rs 12,000 annually to women in Chhattisgarh and the party was successful in returning to power. Women voters are considered silent voters of BJP. After BJP's victory in the elections of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had mentioned the role of women while addressing the workers. He had said that Nari Shakti has come out with the determination that it will hoist the flag of BJP. Women, sisters and daughters have blessed BJP a lot in these elections.
What is behind the move of Delhi government?
Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal had made a promise in the 2022 Punjab elections. Kejriwal had promised to give one thousand rupees every month to all women and unmarried girls above 18 years of age if the government is formed in the state. Aam Aadmi Party got the mandate to form the government with a thumping majority by winning 92 out of total 117 seats in Punjab. It has been almost two years since the government was formed, but this guarantee of Kejriwal has not yet materialized in the state.
The opposition parties were continuously attacking the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab regarding this unfulfilled promise. Now that the Kejriwal government has announced the implementation of Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana in Delhi before the Lok Sabha elections, it is also being seen as a strategy to blunt the attack of the opponents. Delhi Finance Minister Atishi, in her budget speech, announced a provision of Rs 2000 crore for this scheme and said that every woman above 18 years of age will be given Rs 1,000 every month.
Why did Himachal government bring Pyari Behna Scheme?
The Himachal government, which is in the news for political ruckus, has also announced to give Rs 1500 every month to women from April 1. For this, the government will start Indira Gandhi Pyari Brahmin Yojana. CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has announced that women and girls above 18 years of age will be given Rs 1500 every month. In the Karnataka elections held after Himachal, Congress had promised to give Rs 2,000 every month to women, which the Siddaramaiah government has also implemented. This promise was incomplete in Himachal. Vikramaditya Singh, who was showing rebellious attitude after the cross-voting of MLAs in the Rajya Sabha elections, had also attacked the Sukhu government for not fulfilling the election promises.
Lok Sabha elections are also near and due to the rebellious attitude of the MLAs and Vikramaditya group, clouds of uncertainty are looming over the future of the Sukhu government. In such a situation, this announcement of the Himachal government is being linked to the strategy of setting the image of the government that fulfills its promises. Another aspect is that Himachal is also included in those states where voter turnout of women was higher than that of men in 2019. In about 10 states and five union territories, including Himachal, Bihar and Odisha, the turnout of women voters was more than that of men.