The Congress in its manifesto which it released on Tuesday has turned its attention to south India and has promised to implement some long-standing demands of the southern region. An indication of this came when Rahul Gandhi decided to contest from Wayanad in Kerala along with Amethi – a move that he said was because he wished to send a message to the southern part of the country that the Congress is with them. “There was a demand for me. There is a very strong feeling in south India that they are not being carried by the current govt. South India feels hostility from Mr Narendra Modi,” Rahul had said.
In the manifesto, the party has batted for more federalism, better Centre-state relations, moving of certain subjects like school education to the state list from concurrent list, scrapping of NEET, full statehood to Puducherry etc.
Among them is the promise to grant Andhra Pradesh its long-standing demand of Special Category Status, which was promised by Manmohan Singh on February 20, 2014, in the Rajya Sabha. The Congress lost in both the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the state after the state’s bifurcation. It has been trying to change the narrative and shift the blame on the BJP-led Centre, accusing it of going back on a promise by a Prime Minister on the floor of the House.
As part of its manifesto, the Congress had also promised full statehood to Puducherry – a demand that has been put forth by most major parties in TN and Puducherry. There has been friction between the Lieutenant Governor (LG) Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, and separate statehood would give more powers to the elected government.
Another pitch the Congress has made is to scrap the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), which has been a major point of contention in Tamil Nadu. Anger against NEET came to the fore when in 2017, aspirant Anitha died by suicide as she was not able to clear the exam despite scoring high marks in board exams. The issue has been simmering in the state since, and several groups have been demanding the scrapping of the exam saying it is discriminatory to students from marginalised backgrounds.
“..it interferes with the State Government’s right to admit students domiciled in the State to medical colleges in that State. Hence, we will take measures to dispense with the NEET examination and substitute it with a State-level examination of equivalent standard, approved by the competent authority for admission to medical colleges in that State,” the Congress manifesto said.
However, one thing that the manifesto promises is to implement the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, which has received strong opposition from all the southern states. It has received strong opposition as the Terms of Reference of the Commission recommended using the 2011 Census for the population component for devolution of funds, as against the 1971 Census, which was used by previous commissions. Southern states, which have controlled their population over the years, argue that changing the baseline will put them at a disadvantage.