Narendra Modi's poverty definition a joke, he must apologise, says Congress. (File pic)
The BJP today said that if the Congress is outraged over the fact that Rs 10.80 is the marker used to identify who is eligible for government subsidies in Gujarat, it should look within. "As always, they're wrong about Gujarat," professed BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.
The controversy around poverty figures in Gujarat is based on a statement by Narendra Modi's government over the weekend which said that welfare schemes like heavily subsidized food grain cannot be offered to households that earn more than Rs. 324 a month in villages or Rs. 501 in cities. That means that someone with a daily income of Rs. 10.80 is not considered among the state's poorest.
The Congress demanded that Mr Modi, the BJP's candidate for prime minister, must apologise for that benchmark.
(Rs. 10.8 a day? Narendra Modi's poverty definition a joke, says Congress)
But Mr Modi's government retorted today that the contentious figures are based on guidelines issued by the Centre in 2004 for the allocation of ration cards which entitle poor families to subsidies. "There have been several reminders to the Centre sent by the Gujarat government asking them to revise the criteria," said BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.
Calculating poverty and the latest numbers are a politically loaded issue with just months to go before the national elections.
In rallies held recently, Mr Modi has derided the central government for declaring last year that anyone who earns more than Rs. 32 a day would not be considered poor and have access to anti-poverty programmes. That calculation was later discarded and the government said it would rely on an official survey to identify beneficiaries who will be entitled to cheap food under the new 1.25 lakh crore scheme championed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
"R 10.8 definition of poverty in Gujarat is a joke. Mr Modi made fun of the central criterion of Rs. 32 a day. If that is a joke, Mr Modi, then what is this?" asked Congress leader Ajay Maken.