From the Congress to the BJP and even smaller players, manifestos are released with much fanfare yet often fail to hold substance
It is election time and the season of manifestos. The Indian National Congress which is the world’s largest political party; the BJP, an outfit representing the interests of those believing in Sanatan Dharma and even the Kerala Congress (Mani), a single MP party that stands for safeguarding the Roman Catholic Church have all released election manifestos that promise manna from heaven. If the past experiences are any indication, these manifestos do not have the value of the paper on which they are printed. How many among our elite electorate go through the promises made by the parties in their manifestos? Releasing the manifestos has become a kind of ritual.
The Congress which ruled the country from 1947 to 1977 had given a lot of promises to the voters. Provision of round-the-clock drinking and irrigation water, power supply to all villages, jobs for the millions and subsidised grains to the poor section of the society were some of the promises which figured in all the manifestos released by the GOP since the first General Election held in 1952.
Interestingly, the party has never let down the voters as it repeats the same promises in every manifesto without failure. It has kept its promises this time too without failure. For nearly six decades the Congress has kept the country and its people poor, illiterate, unhealthy and unemployed.
The License Permit Raj of the Congress era was to keep the country perpetually poor. While other countries made giant strides in industrialisation and agriculture operations, independent India remained stagnant and weak. A Congress prime minister went to the extent of asking the people to skip meals a day in a week so that all Indians get at least two square meals a day. If there had been a Nobel Prize for the politicians who succeeded in sustaining poverty, malnutrition and underdevelopment, the Congress leaders would have walked away with the honors. The GOP had some of the best brains who brought in brilliant ideas but the Royal Family that controlled the party had other ideas. They were afraid that if the people came out of poverty and started getting proper education, they would ask for a share in the power.
The difference that stand out in the 2024 election manifesto is the decision by the party to cancel the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution. This means that once the Congress forms a Government at the Centre, it would bring back the special status enjoyed by Jammu & Kashmir which was abolished by the BJP Government. The manifestoes of the Congress, CPI(M) and CPI proclaim that they would dump the Agniveer scheme launched by the BJP Government. The truth is that the Communist parties never support any move that would help India to progress and develop economically and socially. The saying in Kerala, is that if the CPI(M) declares that something was detrimental for the country, one can be rest assured that it would be good for the nation and the people.
There is an adage in Malayalam which states that if one doesn’t like his wife, he would find fault with whatever good work she does. There is this story about a husband who comes back home after a hard day’s job and ask his wife what was there to eat. The poor woman replies that she has prepared tapioca and green chilly.
“Has the tapioca been boiled,” asked the husband. The wife replied in the affirmative to which the husband got furious and assaulted her shouting that how dare she do such a thing. Next day when he came home and asked her for food, she said there was tapioca. The man asked her whether tapioca has been boiled and the poor woman, fearing about last evening’s thrashings, told him that she has not boiled it. The husband thrashed her many times asking why she did not boil the same! This was a story quite vogue in Kerala in 1950s.
This is the attitude of the CPI(M) and the CPI. Both the parties have only one mission and that is to vote out the “corrupt and communal” Modi Government. The Congress and Communists have declared that they would dump once and for ever the Agniveer scheme launched by the Defense forces. The agniveer programme is a right measure in the right direction though it has some limitations. Only 25 per cent of those who are recruited would be absorbed in the forces while 75 per cent would be removed after three or four years of service.
This is in the hope that all those who launch weapons and warfare manufacturing units would employ the Agniveers who would have been benefited by the three year long skill development program. One has to read this statement together with the findings of various trade and industry bodies like the CII, FICCI etc which pas pointed out time and again that the employability of those passing out of high schools and colleges is poor.
This is not a paean to Narendra Modi or his Government. If the Congress and Communists have to stay in the race to form an alternative to the BJP Government, leaders of these parties should come out with out-of-the-box solutions and promises. Unfortunately, the manifestos of these parties show that they have not moved an inch from the hate-Modi groove they are entrapped in.
(The writer is special correspondent with the pioneer; views are personal)
