Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee releases the party’s election manifesto in Kolkata on March 20, 2026. | Photo credit: ANI
The Trinamool Congress has promised to bring medical care to the doorsteps of voters in West Bengal, as part of the 10 commitments highlighted in its election manifesto released by party president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday (March 20, 2026), just a month before the Assembly elections.
This promise of duare chikitsa (home medical care) follows the Trinamool Congress government’s previous plans to provide duare sarkar and duare ration (home care and foodgrains), in an attempt to decentralize government benefits.
Ms. Banerjee also promised to create seven new districts in West Bengal to simplify governance in the state.
Women, youth, seniors
The 10 commitments include the much-touted Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, whose entitlements for 2.4 million poor women were increased by ₹500 a month in last month’s state budget, and the newer Banglar Yuva Sathi scheme for unemployed youth aged 21 to 40, which has already received 80,000 applicants.
“We are giving ₹1,500 per month to women under the Lakshmir Bhandar government. That is ₹18,000 per year. Similarly, ₹1,500 per month under Yuva Sathi will continue with more scholarships,” Ms Banerjee said, releasing the manifesto at her residence in Kalighat, south Kolkata.
A new initiative in the program statement is also the continuous support of the old-age pension for all existing beneficiaries.
He promises to support landless farmers
The Trinamool Congress president promised a pucca home to every family with the slogan “nischit abasan (secured housing)” and clean drinking water under the promise of “ghore ghore nal (a tap for every household)”.
She also promised to propose a ₹30,000 crore agriculture budget to support landless farmers and boost the agrarian economy if her party returns to power in the state for a fourth term.
Other promises by the Trinamool supremo included upgrading the industrial infrastructure to make the state a gateway for trade in eastern India and holistic upgrading of the infrastructure of all government schools. On the industry front, she claimed that the state has become a hub for cement and leather, adding 1.5 million people working in the SME sector.
‘Colorful Dreams’
The chief minister said the manifesto was printed in six different languages using the slogan “Sobar jany dorkar Trinamool sarkar (Trinamool government for all)”. She also mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ slogan of development for all, saying that it has actually turned out to be a ‘Sabka Vinash (disaster for all).
Bharatiya Janta Party state president Samik Bhattacharya termed the promises in the Trinamool manifesto as “colourful dreams”. Criticizing the duare chikitsa scheme, he highlighted the problems in government hospitals and the accident at RG Kar Medical College where a man died in an elevator on Friday (March 20, 2026).
Published – 20 March 2026 18:07 IST
