Regional political parties don’t take manifestos seriously. It is time people glanced through manifestoes of small parties rather carefully
The 16th lok Sabha elections are not quite far away. Sooner than later, all major political parties would start working on their manifestos. Regional parties don’t have that burden.
Manifestos are great treaties in a democracy. Parties make promises to people and seek mandate. Once in power, they claim to be fulfilling those promises. While the very notion of a manifesto is quite a critical element in the entire electoral process, it often lands up being a mere academic issue. More so when political parties print only few thousand copies of manifestos.
When parties write their manifestos, they make assessments of people’s needs. At times, parties try to decode their aspirations too. Needs and aspirations are not the same things. A good school may be a need, while sending kids abroad for higher studies may be an aspiration. A two-wheeler may a need, but owning a car is an aspiration. Political parties try to attract voters by addressing to their needs and aspirations through slogans.
Cursed by the caste order, political parties can’t afford to regard voters as one homogenous social class. Within the four broad social divides — the four varnas consisting of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra — there are numerous sub-groups. Outcastes, Dalits and Adivasis are outside the system, yet they are very much part of it.
Political parties often find it difficult to accommodate interests of all groups under one slogan. A manifesto, thus, has to be imaginative in addressing the interests of all social classes.
let us consider a few instances. Will free electricity to farmers appeal to urban votersIJ Will a promise of zero per cent interest to farmers attract the landlessIJ Will bringing Jats in the OBC quota group make OBCs happierIJ Will extension of affirmative action to Dalits/ Adivasis in the private sector make non-Dalits happierIJ Because it is difficult to coin a promise that appeals to all social classes, there are political parties identified with different castes and classes.
Take the case of Uttar Pradesh. The BSP’s core social base are Dalits — in fact, within Dalits too, there is one social class that is the largest. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party has Yadavs as their core supporters. Ajit Singh’s RlD is called the party of Jats.
What will the manifestos of the DMK, ADMK, JD(U) or RJD promise on India’s foreign policy issuesIJ Can Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress ever have a stand on the sliding rupeeIJ Do any of these parties offer anything on the eurozone crisisIJ What opinion will these parties have on SyriaIJ What should India’s stand be if North Korea’s regime collapses todayIJ
Will any of these parties promise citizens to build enough godowns so that wheat and paddy will no more be wastedIJ Can they promise to provide electricity 24x7IJ Can any of these parties promise education to all kids born hereafterIJ
Often, global developments impact issues back home. The issue of crude oil prices is one such example. These issues are critical to the interests of Indian voters. Unfortunately, India’s regional parties have neither national concerns, nor global. These parties contest elections by targeting their respective social constituencies. They don’t have any other obligation. No wonder, given the nature of coalition politics, most leaders of these parties blackmail their way into the Union Cabinet. Recall the days of Ramvilas Paswan, Nitish Kumar and lalu Prasad Yadav as Rail Ministers and see if they knew — or cared — anything beyond their core constituency or the StateIJ
This is a problem unique to India where small parties contest elections with regional aspirations but land up grabbing portfolios that deal with issues national and international in nature. It is time citizens glanced through manifestos of small parties rather carefully.