Watch Nidhi Razdan: India’s freebie war

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Transcript

00:00The debate over freebies or welfare schemes is back front and centre in Indian politics

00:08just days ahead of the assembly elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

00:12The Prime Minister launched a stinging attack on the Congress just days ago, after the Congress's

00:16Deputy Chief Minister in Karnataka seemed to suggest that they could no longer afford

00:21a free bus ride scheme for women in the state.

00:25This was one of their key poll promises.

00:27The Congress has since hit back and accused the BJP of double standards.

00:31And fact is, there are double standards here.

00:34Because what the BJP describes as freebies, when they announce similar schemes, they call

00:40them welfare schemes.

00:41So it's freebies when someone else does it, it's welfare schemes when they do it.

00:45And ironically, just days after attacking the Congress for this, Mr Modi in Jharkhand

00:50announced a slew of welfare schemes or freebies in Jharkhand while campaigning there, including

00:56an unemployment allowance, which is also something that the Congress has done in states

01:01where it is in power.

01:03The question that is fundamental to this is, what does this do to voters?

01:09At the end of the day, it is for voters to decide whether or not they want to vote in

01:14for a political party because of the promises that it has made, and they have every right

01:18to throw them out if those promises are not kept.

01:22But the double standards over the freebie or the welfare debate needs to end.