Taking a swipe at the Mamata Banerjee government for allegedly obstructing the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat scheme in West Bengal, Union Health Minister and BJP president J P Nadda said Friday that the time has come for the lotus to bloom in the state.
Speaking at the scheme’s launch in Odisha, Nadda said that whenever a state got in the way of the Modi government’s welfare schemes, the single-engine government had to give way to a double-engine government – a reference to the BJP ruling both the Centre and the state.
“There were three states that didn’t implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme despite repeated requests by the Centre. One was Odisha, where the lotus has bloomed. The second one was Delhi, where (Arvind) Kejriwal became a hindrance to the scheme and faced defeat. I want to tell that neighbouring Bengal has also not implemented it,” said Nadda, speaking in Cuttack.
The assembly election in Bengal is due in March-April 2026.
Implementing the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was a key poll promise of the BJP in Odisha, which will be implemented alongside the Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana (GJAY), the state’s own health scheme.
Nadda said around 3.5 crore people out of the state’s 4.5 crore will be covered under the two schemes.
Odisha, ruled by the BJD until June 2024, was among the opposition-ruled states that didn’t implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme and launched its own — the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) – which has now been rebranded as GJAY.
Barely a month before the Centre implemented Ayushman Bharat in September 2018, Naveen Patnaik had announced the BSKY, triggering a political slugfest.
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The state scheme ensured cashless treatment up to Rs 5 lakh (Rs 10 lakh for women), overshadowing the central scheme, and covered 96 lakh families in the state.
Because of its popularity, the BJP, after assuming power in Odisha, decided to continue the scheme with a new name (GJAY) in convergence with Ayushman Bharat.
The Odisha government entered into an agreement with the Union Health Ministry in January to implement the scheme.
Officials said that lakhs of Odia people, especially those migrating to different states in search of jobs, who were deprived of the benefits of the central scheme, will now be able to avail of it.
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Nadda also launched the Ayushman Vay Vandana Yojana in Odisha for free treatment to those above 70 years of age regardless of their income.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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