In response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s promise of fast delivery of services to voters in Uttar Pradesh, women in Bengaluru have flocked to the General Post Office (GPO) on Raj Bhavan Road in large numbers to open accounts with the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB). Gandhi has pledged that if the Congress is elected to power on June 4, women heads of families belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category will receive ₹8,500 directly into their accounts under the ‘Mahalakshmi’ scheme. This promise has sparked a rush among Bengaluru women to open IPPB accounts, despite the chief postmaster of Bengaluru GPO dismissing claims that any money would be credited after opening an account.
The chief postmaster of Bengaluru GPO, HM Manjesha, has termed the claims as “rumours” and informed customers that the department will not pay them any amount. However, despite this, women continue to be eager to open IPPB accounts. “IPPB accounts can be opened at any post office across the country and there is no last date for opening it,” he added.
According to a report in Hindustan Times (HT), postal authorities have issued an appeal to not to fall for rumours as no money would be credited after opening an account. The appeal was published in both print and digital Urdu media as most of the women were from the minority communities. Manjesha also told HT that around 60 accounts were being opened daily on average across Bengaluru, however, since the rumour, around 700 to 800 accounts are being opened. “Special arrangements have been made and eight postmen have been deputed to assist in opening the account.”
“Over the last 10 days, almost 2,000 accounts have been opened every day. Today (May 30), we had women queuing up again to open accounts. Since our transactions are limited to opening 2,000 per day, we sent back 1,000 women by giving them tokens with which they can open the accounts on Friday,” he added.
Reacting to Bengaluru women falling prey to the rumour, BJP state spokesperson S Prakash said, “Gandhi is not even sure of becoming the opposition leader in the new government after June 4. And here he is giving false assurances of money flowing ‘thak a thak’ into the bank accounts of women.”
Ramesh Babu, Congress party’s Karnataka media in-charge, said that the Congress has promised 1 lakh to women in poor families under the Mahalakshmi scheme. “Social media is a handy tool to spread rumours, over which no political party has any control. But the rush to open accounts is an indication that the lower income group has belief in the Congress,” he said.
