Congress president Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday made a massive poll promise in the run-up to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The Congress president announced that if his party comes to power in the 2019 General Elections, it will launch a minimum basic income for every poor person in the country.

Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter: “We cannot build a new India while millions of our brothers & sisters suffer the scourge of poverty. If voted to power in 2019, the Congress is committed to a Minimum Income Guarantee for every poor person, to help eradicate poverty & hunger. This is our vision & our promise.”

We cannot build a new India while millions of our brothers & sisters suffer the scourge of poverty.



If voted to power in 2019, the Congress is committed to a Minimum Income Guarantee for every poor person, to help eradicate poverty & hunger.



This is our vision & our promise. — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 28, 2019

Speaking at a rally earlier in Atal Nagar, Chhattisgarh, Rahul said the scheme would be launched as soon as the Congress party comes to power at the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections. The scheme would be launched in all states, he added.

“No government in the world has ever done this before; this will be done for the first time in India,” Rahul said.

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The announcement came even as PM Modi-led NDA government was expected to announce a similar scheme, especially for the farmers, in this year's interim Budget. However, the Congress has caught the government unaware with this big poll promise. In fact, experts are looking at the announcement as a narrative changing promise.

The announcement came close on the heels of the Modi government’s big move to launch 10 per cent quota for the economically backward in the General category. That move has already got Parliament’s approval and became a law post President’s assent. In fact, some of the states have already started implementing the newly-introduced reservation which is over and above the 50 per cent quota that is in place for the SCs, STs and OBCs.