Annapurna rollout snag exposes yawning gap between BJP’s welfare promise and delivery

Minakshi Choudhury has made repeated trips to the South Dumdum Municipality office since she applied for Annapurna Bhandar on June 2. Each time, she has been given a different answer.

The 41-year-old homemaker from Patipukur, under the South Dumdum Municipality, submitted a 12-page offline application on June 2, but when the money failed to arrive, she went to the municipal helpdesk on July 7, where she was asked to return 10 days later.

When she went back after 10 days, she was told to apply online. But when she tried to submit the online application, the portal would not allow her to proceed, showing that an application had already been submitted in her name.

When Choudhury returned to the municipality again in August, she was told that her application was still “under process”.

“I still do not know what is wrong with my application. Nobody at the municipality can give me a clear answer. Had it been rejected, I could have applied again. But it is neither approved nor rejected. It is simply stuck,” she told The Federal.

Bait and switch

Her experience exposes the central problem now confronting the BJP government over Annapurna Bhandar.

Also read: Bengal BJP chief blames ‘system sabotage’ bid for Annapurna delay

Before the election, the BJP had presented the scheme as a straightforward doubling of the Lakshmir Bhandar payment, a promise that helped the party breach the Trinamool Congress’s strong women vote bank built around its flagship welfare scheme.

After coming to power, however, the BJP government has added a series of eligibility filters, including income-related criteria, to the scheme, while beneficiaries have also had to navigate fresh applications, multiple rounds of verification, cut-off dates and Aadhaar-linked bank-account checks.

Women aged 25 to 60 are eligible, subject to conditions including restrictions on government employees, pensioners and income-tax payers. The payment is made through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.

Anger boils on streets

The government has defended the tighter scrutiny as necessary to weed out bogus and ineligible beneficiaries. But that explanation appears to have done little to assuage the anger on the ground, with protests over delayed or withheld payments spreading across districts.

On August 21, Urban Development Minister Agnimitra Paul faced protests from women during an administrative meeting in West Midnapore over non-payment of funds. Elsewhere, protestors laid siege to government offices, blocked roads and railway tracks, and demonstrated outside the residences of ministers.

The government received around 1.8 crore applications, officials said. Of these, 1.62 crore had been verified, while 1.45 crore women were included in the latest payment cycle. Around 17 lakh applications were kept out of the payment process after verification, with officials citing reasons including Aadhaar-bank account linkage problems, government employment and income-tax status.

Also read: 30L women direct cash scheme beneficiaries of TMC govt ineligible, says CM Suvendu

Even if all 17 lakh pending applications are cleared, the number of Annapurna beneficiaries would rise to about 1.62 crore. That would still be nearly 59 lakh fewer than the 2.21 crore women who received Lakshmir Bhandar, giving the Opposition an opportunity to accuse the BJP of reneging on its election promise.

Unanswered questions

Choudhury’s case raises another uncomfortable question about a possible gap in the way the scheme is being implemented.

Minister of State for Health Sumana Sarkar said applications submitted by July 10 had already been verified, while those filed after that date were still being processed.

Choudhury, however, submitted her application on June 2 and says it continues to show as “under process”. The government has not explained why an application filed well before its verification cut-off remains pending.

Officials have stressed that women who have not yet received the benefit have not necessarily been permanently excluded from the scheme. They will get opportunities to correct deficiencies and undergo fresh verification.

However, that explanation is finding little acceptance at the grassroots, while the growing anger has exposed a larger problem for the BJP, with its leaders divided over who should take responsibility for the rollout.

State BJP chief’s peculiar excuse

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya has described the problem as systemic and alleged that sections of the bureaucracy may be deliberately creating obstacles.

He has also acknowledged administrative irregularities and assured beneficiaries that eligible women will eventually receive their dues.

But that raises a political question of its own. If the BJP believes officials are obstructing its flagship welfare programme, why has its political organisation not been able to resolve complaints before they turn into protests?

Also read: Bengal Budget 2026: Despite attacking TMC, BJP retains Mamata's welfare model

The party had tried to give its MLAs a direct role in the rollout, BJP sources said. With panchayats and municipalities not yet under the BJP’s control, MLAs were expected to act as the local bridge between beneficiaries and the administration.

Party sources said constituency-wise information was provided to MLAs on pen drives, with instructions to coordinate with officials and help resolve complaints. Fresh instructions have now reportedly been issued to MLAs to become more active.

Bengal BJP’s shortcomings

A defeated BJP candidate privately criticised sections of the party leadership for failing to focus on welfare delivery. His complaint was that elected representatives were more interested in controlling local political and economic networks than ensuring that government benefits reach households.

The criticism points to a larger weakness in the BJP’s approach to Annapurna, according to political commentator Debasish Chakrabarti.

“The TMC spent years turning Lakshmir Bhandar into a direct relationship between the government, local party workers, and women beneficiaries. The BJP has inherited that expectation without yet demonstrating an equally effective grassroots network,” he said.

The shortcomings have also given the Opposition an opportunity to step up its attack on the BJP.

Mamata snatches opportunity

Speaking through social media on Monday (August 24), Mamata Banerjee asked women who believe they are eligible for Annapurna but have been left out to prepare lists of such beneficiaries in their localities.

She said the TMC would take up their complaints and pursue the issue on their behalf, a move that appears aimed at rebuilding its support among women through the same welfare scheme that was once a political mainstay for her party.

Also read: BJP made big promises to a debt-ridden Bengal; now how will it deliver?

Congress spokesperson Chandan Ghosh Choudhury accused the BJP government of creating what he described as “planned shortcomings”.

He alleged that the BJP never intended Annapurna to become a genuine replacement for Lakshmir Bhandar on the scale promised during the election.

He pointed to the Budget allocation, which raises questions about how far the government intends to expand the scheme.

The numbers do not add up

The state has allocated Rs 36,000 crore for Annapurna in 2026-27. With the current number of 1.45 crore beneficiaries, a full year of payments at the rate of Rs 3,000 per head would cost about Rs 52,200 crore. The annualised requirement is, therefore, about Rs 16,200 crore above the allocation.

The comparison with Lakshmir Bhandar is also revealing. The previous government’s 2025-26 allocation was Rs 26,700 crore. Annapurna’s allocation is only about Rs 9,300 crore higher, despite the monthly benefit being twice as large.

The numbers do not prove that the BJP intends to raise the beneficiary base, the Congress spokesperson pointed out.

Ghosh Choudhury said the Congress would take the issue to the block level, accusing the BJP of misleading voters by promising that Lakshmir Bhandar beneficiaries would receive double the amount under Annapurna.

Beneficiaries wait for answers

For women such as Minakshi Choudhury, however, the dispute over the scheme’s eligibility rules and political promises has a more immediate significance.

Also read: 100 days of Bengal BJP govt: Will face public 'test' after 1 year, says CM Suvendu

The Rs 3,000 she was expecting was meant to help her improve her job prospects and contribute to her household income.

Choudhury, who has an MA and BEd degree, has been unable to secure a job and currently supports her family through private tuition.

She had planned to use the Annapurna payment to enrol in a digital-marketing course. Instead, nearly three months after submitting her application, she is still trying to find out why it remains pending.

“I have done everything they asked me to do. I submitted the application in June. I just want someone to tell me clearly whether I will get the money and, if not, why,” she said.

That is the question several women like Choudhury are now expecting the BJP government to answer.