The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday promised to provide free education to “needy students” up to the postgraduate level if elected to power in the Delhi Assembly election next month.

“Once our government is formed, we will provide financial assistance of Rs 15,000 to the youth of Delhi preparing for competitive exams and will also reimburse two-time travel and application fees,” announced party leader Anurag Thakur.

Assembly elections in the capital will take place in a single phase on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8. The Hindutva party had released the first part of its manifesto on January 17.

On Tuesday, Thakur announced that if the BJP came to power in Delhi, Rs 1,000 would be provided to students from the Scheduled Caste communities enrolled in professional and technical courses under the Dr BR Ambedkar Scheme.

He also said a welfare board would be set up for auto drivers, who would get life insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh and accident insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh. Their children would also be given scholarships, said Thakur.

The BJP also pledged to set up a similar board for domestic workers, who would get Rs 10 lakh life insurance, Rs 5 lakh accident insurance, scholarships for their children and six months of paid maternity leave.

The Hindutva party also promised to constitute a Special Investigation Team “against the bad governance and corruption of the Aam Aadmi Party government”.

Later in the day, Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal cited the BJP’s manifesto as evidence of the Hindutva party’s decision to end free education in government schools.

“It is written that in government schools, the students who are in need will be given free education,” Kejriwal said during a press conference. “That means they will end free education for all and only give free education to students who are in ‘need’.”

In the first part of its manifesto, the BJP had promised cash payments of Rs 2,500 per month for women in Delhi.

“This will be approved in the first Cabinet meeting,” BJP national president JP Nadda had said. “Additionally, families using liquified petroleum gas will get a Rs 500 subsidy per cylinder, and on Holi and Diwali, they will receive one free cylinder each.”

The Aam Aadmi Party has promised a cash payment of Rs 2,500 for women, while the Congress, under its “Pyari Didi Yojana”, has promised Rs 2,500 per month.


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