Indian Election: Congress party to bolster ties with Bangladesh if voted to power
India's opposition Congress party has promised to strengthen economic and cultural ties with Bangladesh and pay greater attention to its immediate neighbours if it is voted to power in the upcoming national elections.
"We will enhance economic and cultural relations between India and Bangladesh that are the two most populous countries in South Asia," the party said in its election manifesto released at its national headquarters in New Delhi yesterday.
Top party leaders including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former Congress Presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were present at the event, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
The party also vowed to protect minorities while accelerating growth and jobs, reports AFP.
Nearly a billion Indians will vote to elect a new government in six-week-long parliamentary elections starting on April 19, the largest democratic exercise in the world.
In its manifesto, Congress promised to protect "linguistic and religious minorities".
"The plurality of religions represents the history of India," it said. "History cannot be altered."
Party leader Rahul Gandhi -- the son, grandson and great-grandson of prime ministers -- said the upcoming election was "fundamentally different" from any other in India's history.
"It is between those who want to end India's constitution and democracy and those who want to save it," he said.
The Congress manifesto, titled a "justice document", offered "concrete guarantees unlike Modi's empty promises", said lawmaker and lead author P Chidambaram.
The party has promised to address India's "massive unemployment" on a "war footing", adding that it would earmark half of all government jobs for women.
Young people voted for Modi in droves when he was first elected a decade ago after he said he would create 10 million jobs a year.
But a recent International Labour Organization (ILO) report warned that India was hamstrung by a "grim" crisis, with unemployment on the rise
Congress proposed an unconditional annual cash transfer of Rs 100,000 ($1,200) "to every poor Indian family", without precisely defining who would qualify.
The BJP is yet to publish its own manifesto.
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