Congress to hold online agitation on May 28 for monetary aid to poor

The Congress will on Thursday hold an agitation through social media demanding monetary aid from the Centre for people from the unorganised sector in line with the 'Nyay' scheme proposed by the party leader Rahul Gandhi, Maharashtra minister Balasaheb Thorat has said.

The social media campaign is to demand that the Centre deposits Rs 10,000 in the bank accounts of the poor in view of the coronavirus crisis, Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said on Wednesday.

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Thorat, who heads the Maharashtra Congress unit, said workers of the party will take part in the agitation through social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The agitation, with hashtag 'SpeakUpIndia', will be held online from 11 am to 2 pm on Thursday, he added.

Pilot, who is also the Rajasthan Congress chief, said though the Centre announced an economic package, the financial relief could not reach the poor due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

"Every poor should get Rs 10,000 in his bank account. We will demand that the Centre credits the amount to the (bank accounts of the) poor as part of the digital campaign," Pilot said.

He said putting money into the pockets of the poor is necessary to accelerate demand in the market.

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To press for its demand, he added, the Congress will launch the pan-India campaign across social media platforms on Thursday.

Targeting the Centre, Pilot said lakhs of people walked home barefoot and hungry during the lockdown but the central government had no concrete policy to provide help and assistance to them.

At a time when it should provide relief to people, BJP government and leaders are planning virtual rallies to celebrate the completion of the party's six years in power, he said.

"This is not the time to speak of achievements but to wipe people's tears. The central government has to provide relief and help to people during the pandemic," he said.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections held last year, Rahul Gandhi had advocated implementation of the 'Nyay' scheme proposing that a certain amount of money will be paid to the poor per month to enable them to make purchases.

The increased purchasing power of the poor will in turn help remonetise the economy, Congress leader Thorat had said.

"We cannot go outside, on the streets now (due to the lockdown). Hence, we will be staging this agitation online tomorrow for those who are hit the worst by the lockdown.

"You have to take part in the agitation via YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook," Thorat said during an online interaction.

He said the Centre's Rs 20 lakh crore special economic package is "more of offering loans than spending money to help the people hit by lockdown".

"The economy will pick momentum only when the poor have money in hand to spend. So, the Centre should offer money in line with the Nyay scheme. This will in turn boost the economy," he added.

Thorat said 50 lakh workers of the Congress are expected to take part in the agitation across the country.