Latest in Congress-BJP war: Not Rahul, Modi but poll manifestoes

The Oxford dictionary defines manifesto as thus: “A public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate.” For a weary Indian voter, a election manifesto usually stands for an elaborate, fascinatingly-worded version of the usual political hogwash that we are fed 24x7, round the year. Poll manifestos of the biggest and forever-warring parties from the 2009 general elections is convincing proof of the fact that the manifestos are just an academic extension of the political lies that most of our election campaigns thrive on. Both the Congress and the BJP’s manifestos from 2009 start with identical pitches - rid the country of the opposition party. The Congress, goes two steps further and makes sure that they have nipped the very idea of a third front at the bud and declares the political front is a ‘recipe for chaos’. Murli Manohar Joshi, who was the head of the drafting committee of BJP’s manifesto during the last election, rewinds to 400 AD about when Fa-Hien wrote in his scriptures. The manifesto reads:

Fa-Hian, writing about Magadha in 400 AD, has mentioned that a well organised health care system existed in India. According to him, the nobles and householders of this country had founded hospitals within the city to which the poor of all countries, the destitute, the crippled and the diseased may repair. 

And if you had been wondering what the idea of India from 1600 years ago is a build-up for, there are no prizes for guessing - it’s meant to declare that the Congress has destroyed India. The introduction nears a conclusion saying:

During the six decades of our independence, governance of our country, except for a short period, was with the Congress and its associates. It was most unfortunate that they never thought of creating a socio-economic and political paradigm of governance drawing from the civilisational consciousness of India. They, instead, tried to emulate whatever was being practised in this or that Western country. The disastrous results are before us.

The Congress, on their part, doesn’t lag behind in absurdity. In fact, with disturbing amounts of audacity, the manifesto declares right at the beginning:

“At the national level, the BJP has sought to position itself as the main political rival of the Indian National Congress. The Indian National Congress rejects this presumptuous posturing since the BJP is simply not present in  large parts of our country." 

[caption id=“attachment_1189851” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Screengrab from the Congress manifesto website.[/caption] Clearly, either the Congress is in denial of the fact that they have managed to form only coalition governments in the past years or suffering from selective amnesia which stops them from acknowledging the fact that the BJP-led NDA and other parties have managed to dethrone them on certain occasions. Following that, the BJP and Congress touch upon similar ideas of security, development and growth - occasionally taking digs at each other. Apart from BJP’s deep emphasis on the collective Indian consciousness as one dictated by the principles of Hinduism, and Congress reference to diversty and secularism, the parties’ development plans for the country touch the usual issues. In fact (and here’s the cue for BJP fans to cry foul), the manifesto puts forth the idea of a National Identity Card uncannily similar to the Aadhaar Card. In a section on what the BJP wants to do if it came to power, the document mentions a National identity Card that will be linked to bank accounts, property purchases have to be registered with the card, loans will have to be procured with the card among other utilities. The manifesto reads:

“National Identity Cards for All The BJP will launch an innovative programme to establish a countrywide system of multi-purpose national identity cards so as to ensure national security, correct welfare delivery, accurate tax collection, financial inclusion and voter registration. Voter identity cards, PAN cards, passports, ration cards and BPL cards are already in use though not all with photo identity. The NDA proposes to make it incumbent for every Indian to have a National Identity Card. The programme will be completed in three years. The National Identity Card will contain enough memory and processing capabilities to run multiple applications.”

And like all preceding years, the Congress and the BJP has decided to lock horns over the the polls, starting with the very manifesto this year. It was reported a few days back that Narendra Modi, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and also the party’s poll campaign chief, has sought people’s suggestions to draft this year’s manifesto. Modi sent out a tweet providing a link to the BJP’s poll manifesto website, inviting his voters to put in their suggestions. The Congress too has rustled up a strong social media buzz around their own poll manifesto website, through which they have sought the suggestion of the general public. Vastly different in design, the elements of both the websites are predictably the same. While the BJP has put up the manifestos of past elections with a short note on their commitment to take into account what the voters feel should be included, the Congress has uploaded documents on the UPA’s performance over the past few years. Both sites allow you to choose from the issue of governance you intend to comment on and then type in your comment within a certain word limit. The Congress allows you to view the website in Hindi and Urdu apart from English. BJP provides email addresses of the leaders involved with the drafting committee to directly address your issues to. Predictably, social media has come alive with BJP fans and Congress fans trading insults and accusing each other of stealing ideas. Where as Narendra Modi’s fans have hammered ‘Pappu’ for following NaMO’s footsteps, Congress has hit back saying the BJP was never for democracy. All this despite the fact that seeking the opinion of voters to draft a poll manifesto is not a never-heard-of idea. Very recently, the African National Congress, launched a ‘people-centred ’ election manifesto campaign in South Africa. Since it was launched in September, the BJP and Congress should ideally stop biting each others’ heads off, but who’s listening? While manifestos are usually a dossier of what a certain party’s vision for the country is, the idea to include opinions of the voters is a welcome, inclusive move - it allows, even if in symbolism, the voter to participate in the process of drawing the future of the country which he will be the direct benefactor/victim of. Rather than being a passive witness to it. However, there are some serious problems in the initiative. While the initiatives, one has to accept, is an interesting way to include voter opinions in the party discourse, in the context of the upcoming polls, it seems delayed and ill-timed. First, six months prior to the polls, even if thousands of suggestions pour in, it is rather unlikely that all those suggestions will be collated and inducted in the manifesto in time. Apart from giving pointers for the party leaders as to what they should be talking about in public rallies, the suggestions might just go down the internet drain. [caption id=“attachment_1189853” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A screengrab from the BJP manifesto website.[/caption] Rahul Gandhi’s Khidkee was launched with a similar idea, but hasn’t come to any visible use till now. Narendra Modi’s fans, on the other hand, are busy drafting encomiums for the Loh Purush on social media and the only suggestion BJP might get from the fans could be ‘NaMo for PM’, or “Congress hatao, Desh bachao’ - nothing that the BJP needs to be told anew. Then again, since the suggestions have been invited through websites, it is obviously directed at a certain class - whose realities might be completely different for a greater part of the country’s voters. So in their attempt to be ‘inclusive’, the parties end up making a confusing statement whose relevance is only as deep as Twitter ’trends’. If the social media narrative around the polls is any indication of the quality of the internet conversation on contemporary politics - one can say for sure that there will be fewer recommendations and more rants that the parties will receive in their inboxes from opponents. The idea of a manifesto is to tell a prospective voter what a party can do or will do facilitate growth and development. It is supposed to identify lapses and suggest ways to fix them. When a party, six months before polls, asks its voters what they recommend and what their issues are, it points at a glaring political class-voting population disconnect. It’s almost as if the parties are not clued in about what the demands of the country are, or are not sure about the conclusions they have drawn about the nature of the country’s problems. In sharp contrast is AAP’s slightly gimmicky 70 manifestoes for 70 constituencies in Delhi - it at least makes the right kind of impression and says that the party has intensively studied the issues that need to be redressed in the state. One model that its big brothers should possibly consider stealing?