NYAY, the Nyuntam Aay Yojana, will be a surgical strike on poverty, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday.
Gandhi had on Monday promised to implement the NYAY scheme offering Rs 6000 a year to India's poorest families if his party came back to power. He claimed the scheme will benefit 25 crore poor in the country
"In the 21st century, India will define a 'minimum income line' and no one should live below this line. With this intention, we came up with NYAY. It will be a 'surgical strike' against poverty in the country. If the Narendra Modi government can give money to the rich, we can do it for the poor. 20 per cent of the poorest families of the country will be entitled to up to Rs 72,000 per year," he said at a rally in Sriganganagar, Rajasthan.
'We will eradicate poverty in the country. This is a dhamaka. No country has done this in history. There should not be a single poor person in the country,' he claimed.
Slamming the BJP for its anti-poor approach, the Congress President said that they wanted to "destroy the poor", while his party wants to "destroy poverty".
"I guarantee you that through NYAY scheme, I will bring justice to the poor and give them their due. I will make sure that every poor family has the money in the bank account. BJP wants to destroy the poor, Congress wants to destroy poverty," he underlined.
Rahul on Monday had described NYAY as the first-of-its-kind policy in the world, whose phased implementation will cap the "final assault on poverty".
He went on to blame the Prime Minister for not fulfilling the promises made during the 2014 elections,
"In the last 5 years, Narendra Modi has opposed and weakened all the schemes that helped the poor. He referred to MNREGA as 'digging pits'. He doesn't understand that these pro-poor schemes lifted 14 crore people out of poverty," he claimed.
"Those who were lifted out of poverty during the tenure of Congress government, have been made poor again by the Modi government. This happened due to demonetisation and the 'Gabbar Singh Tax'. Unemployment is at a 45-year high. The Modi government has increased the unemployment rate," he said.
Rahul did not spare demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) either.
"Narendra Modi had stated that he will fight against black money. All of us were there standing in queues outside the banks. But where were those who had accumulated black money? Were Nirav Modi, Anil Ambani, Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya standing in queues? BJP took all of your money, turned it into white and gave it to these people, who fled the country," he said.
"The small and medium businesses still do not know what is the GST structure about. Narendra Modi said one-tax system, but five-tax system came," he said.
The Congress President promised that if he became the PM, he would simplify GST.