Congress to come out with manifesto for fishermen

AICC secretary P C Vishnunath has said that the Congress will be the first political party in the country to come up with a separate poll manifest for fishermen in the country.

He was speaking after inaugurating a two-day All India Fishermen Congress National Executive Committee meet.

The AICC secretary said Congress is the only political party which is concerned about fishermen and AICC president Rahul Gandhi has supported the idea of introducing a separate manifesto for the community.

“The manifesto will be released along with the main manifesto for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. The executive committee has been formed by the Congress president in order to ensure that the lower stratum of the society is not ignored,” the secretary explained.

“The committee will discuss the problems encountered by the fishermen in the coast. It will look into the formulation of the policies, keeping in mind the welfare of the community and also submit a report to the high command for approval,” he added.

Vishnunath said that the fishermen community in the country is not homogeneous as they belong to different castes in different states.

“The community is leading an uncertain life, being the second weakest community in India, according to living standards, after the Adivasi community. The fishermen community, which is not under SC/ST category, should be considered for the SC category,” he suggested.

Coming down heavily on the BJP, AICC secretary said that the BJP has completely failed to keep up the promise made to the public. “The anti-people and anti-poor polices of the BJP-led Central government are already making the life of the public pathetic and running the country. The message should be sent to the voters
and Congress workers should work in the direction,” he called out.

He added that although the Congress was not able to gain a majority in the Assembly elections, it has been successful in keeping the BJP away from power.

He stressed on the grassroots level preparations by the Congress workers in order to stop BJP from coming to power in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. It should be a stringent fight that the Congress has to offer to the BJP, he advised.

All India Fishermen Congress National president T N Prathapan interacted with fishermen and also discussed the problem suffered by them.