manifesto by ranjith k r

COVER STORY

Artful And Implausible Since there are no proven relation between the mandate and the manifesto, the finely written pieces of political rhetoric called manifestos have a very low life expectancy by birth. At best the manifestos remain ideal prose of political fairness and are rarely discussed during or after the elections. So, some sure bait is out in the bazaar. 25Kg. rice per month to all BPL families at Rs.3/kg, Smart phones for the poor, Digital Gram Sadak Yojana to bring broadband to remotest villages, colour TV sets to the needy, monthly grant of Rs.2000 to the poorest families through ATMs, cooking gas for Rs.100 and plenty of enticing sops. The aam admi had never been pampered like K R RANJITH, K P JAYAKUMAR

amously known as the art of the impossible, politics often skilfully hide paradoxes and contradictions behind the thick of the myriad nuances of the epithet. When it comes to the Indian Politics the art of the impossible becomes a carnival of sorts. 1027 odd political parties scramble for their share of the Roti (and dal, of

course) with 'stratagems and follies' no one else on earth can match. Just above half of the 71crore voters turn out, most of them being coaxed by cash and caste, sharaab and saree- many of whom still believing that the British are in power and the more knowledgeable of the lot still vote for Indiraaji. The Rs.16, 000crore affair taking place at regular

intervals is termed as the biggest democratic exercise in the whole world or as the Great Indian Thamasa at times. The political jamboree of a vast pluralistic democracy, still struggling hard to come to terms with coalition regime, cannot be but a feast of shards- a spicy mix of sweet and sour. Of

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[C o v e r s t o r y] bitterness and excess. Of hullabaloo and harmony. Of contradictions and paradoxes. ('In life and in politics, paradoxes often solve contradictions' said Jaswant Singh, BJP's master diplomat in the late 1990s.) And the great street parade is on; the cheering game should start now. Going by the ritual, most of the political formations have come up with wonderfully worded manifestos. Some have waited for the new allies to fall in line while others chose to wait for some bed-fellows to leave the camp. Nonetheless, it's the most lukewarm part of the elections, the manifestos. One may exclaim like a Bernard Shaw hero (replacing a few words, though): 'A MANIFESTO! A list full of promises?!' A few think-tanks at the party offices would brainstorm for days and nights, cram their heads with foreign policy, economic issues, popular sentiments, communal nerves and finally come out with a finely written piece of literature, delicately balanced, well-thought-out politically correct statements full of hyperbole. The 21 strong Congress manifesto committee for example was a league of big shots like Pranab Mukerjee, Arjun Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Mani Shankar Aiyer and Jairam Ramesh and was formed way back in July 2008. This time, the congress roped in some experts in respective fields to put together their list full of promises. But

sadly, the poor guys' work often goes wasted, as the prose remains in the shelves and nobody really care to leaf through till the next round of elections come by. Those who lose the elections often recycle their older manifestos, rehash them, replace a few hackneyed phrases and promises and come up anew. The incumbent will always have promises to keep forever. Rhyming, alluring slogans and coinages had always set the mood of the elections and manifestos often rings in the right rhythm. From 'Gareebi

Mayawati presents BSP’s manifesto

Advaniji presents highlights of the IT Vision

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Hattavo' of the Indira era to 'Ram, Roti or Insaf' of the BJP, to the India Shining from the corporate campaign disaster of last elections to Jai Ho of today; the slogan-makers are busy as ever. The 2004 manifesto of the BJP exulted in the reverie that the “Congress era in Indian politics is over. The era of the BJP has begun” and asked the electorate to give them another chance to make a 'Shakthisaali Bharat'(Strong India). In 2004, The INC and the Left Parties fought on their own manifestos and

formed a coalition to reach the power (to keep the communal forces at bay is the euphemism to be used.) after the elections. Respective manifestos were conveniently shelved and they charted a Common Minimum Programme of Governance which too had the same fate of the manifestos. The left pulled the plugs off crying foul that the UPA Govt had breached the CMP. The Women's Reservation Bill had been in the manifestos of almost all major political formations in 2004 and it's likely to remain in the respected plane this time also. The concerted moves of the women members of both the treasury benches and of the opposition to get the bill passed were thwarted by reasons nobody really know till now. The invisible hands of some unknown male-chauvinist super spirit were always present at the parliament to snatch the bill in to pieces whenever it came up. The strongly worded manifestos couldn't ward off the evil t h a t l u r k e d b e h i n d Wo m e n ' s Reservation Bill. In the 543 strong lower house, the representation of women

The Women's Reservation Bill had been in the manifestos of almost all major political formations in 2004 and it's likely to remain in the respected plane this time also. The concerted moves of the women members of both the treasury benches and of the opposition to get the bill passed were thwarted by reasons nobody really know till

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[C o v e r s t o r y] aam admi, the UPA government worked overtime to pamper the super rich,” the manifesto said. The CPI (M) manifesto points to some disturbing statistics: 230 million people are undernourished (in India); more than half of India's women are anaemic; 40 per cent of children under three years are underweight; 2,19,000 habitations have no access to clean drinking water; 39 per cent of adult population is illiterate; 77 per cent of the population spends less than Rs. 20 a day and the share of wages in the organised industrial sector is among the lowest in the world. remains poor between 8-9 % for the past few decades. In the first LS, it was only 4.4% and the highest number of women was recorded in 13th LS with 9.2% (49 members). In the 14th LS polls the share dipped to 8.29%. The Congress once again promises to get the bill passed next time and re-assures that the 16th LS will have one third reservation for women. The party also commits itself to reserve a third of all govt. jobs for women. There were hopes that the Congress will extend SC-ST reservation in private sector too. The party president Sonia Gandhi had mooted the point on many occasions. But the party manifesto prefers to be vague on the issue. The party “is deeply committed to pursuing affirmative action for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the private sector,” says the manifesto. Note that the term 'reservation' is conspicuously absent for reasons not so ambiguous. The raise in the public health expenditure remains as low as 1.5 percent of the GDP as against the promised hike of 2-3 percent. Similarly the CMP promised to boost up public expenditure on education to 6 per cent of the GDP, today it stands at 2.84 per cent while the defense allocation almost doubled from Rs.77 billion to Rs.141billion. This is likely to be increased as every party will have to ensure protection of every Indian citizen in the back-drop of 'terror attacks from outside.'The Congress manifesto pledges to carry forward the Rs.24,000 crore defense modernization programme to equip the forces to meet the new challenges. The party, instead of

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committing itself on the public spending in education, prefers to “make quality education affordable to every one,” and will profusely allow loans to students. The shift from the usual “education to all” slogan to “education affordable to every one” re-iterates the neo-liberal shift in the approach to education. But the UPA and the Congress haven't forgotten their manifesto altogether. They have Right to Information Bill and Rural Employment Guarantee Act to their credit and some hugely hyped loan waver allocations that are still to reach the farmers. “Government announced a package of Rs. 70,000 cores to help indebted farmers; even then more than 5,000 farmers committed suicide after this,” criticises the CPI manifesto.

Micro-management of Aam Aadmi

The Congress though committed to economic reforms, have opted for 'kinder reforms' in the manifesto, realising that global recession have rendered reforms unpopular . Interestingly, the party has backed off (at least in the manifesto) from its earlier commitment to privatise the insurance, banking and telecom sectors. The financial sector and public sector enterprises in manufacturing like telecom, energy and transport will remain in public domain, the manifesto asserts. But the Congress believes that “the Indian people have every right to own part of the shares of public sector companies.” The very statement stands witness to the fact that the manifesto committee have toiled long at the desk editing and reediting the language. Look at the way 'allowing private investment in PSUs' are sugar-coated and presented as the right of the Indian citizen! It's learned that many controversial issues including pension reforms, amendment of labour laws, FDI in retail sector were either erased or toned-down from the draft manifesto. Rendering industry status to retail sector and lifting the curbs on FDI in the sector were removed from the draft. Removing specific details on FDI, the manifesto cautiously makes a policy statement pregnant with jargons: “The emphasis in all foreign investment policies will be maximization of local value-addition and export potential.” (ie.: keep guessing we'll show you once we get the mandate!)

The Aam Admi pops out of cartoon columns and takes a centre-stage in the manifestos. 'Aam Aadmi Ke Badhte Kadam/Har Kadam Par Bharat Buland,'is one of Congress slogans. There were speculations that the Congress will play down the Aam Aadmi slogans this time. A congress leader was quoted as saying, “How can you move forward without aam aadmi? But things have changed since 2004. There are different pockets of aam aadmi rural and urban. We will go for micro management of aam aadmi.” But the CPI(M) that released its manifesto early in the campaign takes a dig at the Aam Admi rhetoric of the Congress. In the telecom sector, the Congress will “For all its supposed concern for the