Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari is not fond of most of the policies and schemes of the Mamata Banerjee government. However, the BJP leader, who till December 2020 was a key Minister in the State government, is often heard referring to the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme in his public meetings.
Addressing a meeting at Bandwan in Purulia district on Saturday, Mr. Adhikari spoke about the economic deprivation in the region that was once a hotbed of the activities of Communist Party of India (Maoist) and said the BJP will not stop Lakshmir Bhandar. “We will increase the entitlement to the scheme three times and pay ₹3,000 to every beneficiary,” he said.
This is not the first time that Mr. Adhikari has said he will increase the payout and has been repeating that ₹1,000 which the State government is paying is not sufficient.
Not only Mr. Adhikari, but Union Home Minister Amit Shah had to tell people of West Bengal that the BJP will not stop any scheme, particularly Lakshmir Bhandar.
“Mamata didi says that if the BJP comes to power, it will stop the programme. The BJP is not going to stop any scheme. We will increase the benefit of Lakshmir Bhandar scheme by at least ₹100,” Mr. Shah had said earlier this month in Uluberia.
While Mr. Shah’s promise of hiking the scheme by ₹100 had given a fodder for the Trinamool Congress to call the remarks ‘insensitive’, the fact that the scheme is being mentioned by the BJP leaders in the poll campaign is significant.
Weeks before the Lok Sabha election was announced, the West Bengal government in the State Budget hiked cash incentive for Lakshmi Bhandar from ₹500 to ₹1,000 per month for the general category and from ₹1,000 to ₹1,200 for women belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. Every woman below 60 in the State can claim benefits of the scheme and with over 2. 11 crore beneficiaries, Lakshmir Bhandar is the biggest cash incentive scheme in the State. The increased allocation in the State Budget will cost an additional ₹1,200 crore to the State exchequer. The allocation for the flagship scheme for 2024-25 stands at ₹14,400 crore.
Despite the financial burden on the exchequer, the scheme is considered a game changer for the Trinamool Congress. Ms. Banerjee had announced the scheme ahead of the 2021 Assembly election and the assurance of cash incentive helped her tide over ant-incumbency of 10 years.
The promise by the BJP leaders on Laksmir Bhandar is aimed to win over the women voters in the State, a majority of whom has supported Ms. Banerjee. The number of women voters in the State stand at nearly 3.73 crore, almost 50% of the entire electorate.
Despite the fact that the Trinamool leadership is on the defensive about the allegations of sexual assault on women at Sandeshkhali, the party is hopeful that the cash incentive schemes, particularly Lashmir Bhandar, will work for the party this time, as it did in 2021.
