New Delhi: The ongoing national election in India — one of the biggest democratic electoral exercises in the world — is witnessing a unique phenomenon of major political parties moving away from their manifestos and training their guns instead on rivals with fringe or frivolous issues.
"Beyond the manifesto"
In the beginning of the seven-phase marathon elections, the Narendra Modi government tried to weave its narrative around the Indian prime minister’s “strong and decisive” action in tackling security issues. The reason for that line of campaigning was simple: the government has been severely criticised for failing to create enough jobs and reduce distress in the agriculture sector. Therefore, Modi’s authorisation of airstrikes on Pakistan in response to a deadly attack in Kashmir became a recurrent theme in poll speeches by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership. Its leaders began highlighting Indian Air Force’s February 26 air strikes on a terrorist training camp that it says is inside Pakistan – but this was seen as an effort to stave off challenge from main opposition Congress party – led by Rahul Gandhi – which has pledged jobs and as much as 72,000 rupees for the poorest sections of society.
Soon, however, that narrative of muscular nationalism gave way to its trumpeting of the welfare programmes the government launched – including the provision of toilets, electricity connections and cooking gas for the poor – to woo voters.
Cut to a recent rally in Maharashtra, and Modi vowed that the BJP-led government would not restrict its governance to just what had been promised in the manifesto, “but would go beyond it.”
According to BJP general secretary P. Muralidhar Rao, the party has trained more than 1.1 million workers on ways to influence citizens in the world’s biggest democracy to vote for the right-wing group.
The trained pro bono cadres have fanned out across the world’s seventh-largest landmass to contact voters and educate them about Modi’s programmes and policies, discussing issues ranging from the economy to “national pride and identity politics”. The workers have been trained about the party's ideology, Rao said. They have also been educated on how to manage journalists and devise social media strategies, he said.
The impact of toeing that line has been felt in an increasing rhetoric of communal hatred and hate speeches – for which party bigwigs ranging from Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath have all come under fire.
Opposition follows similar vein
However, even opposition Congress and other party leaders have been found indulging in a similar vein of politics.
The Congress party has also slammed BJP’s poll strategy - which fails to mention in its campaigns issues such as the devastating impact of demonetisation and the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“These are the perceived achievements of BJP mentioned in their manifesto. Why is the party not talking about it in its campaign? Why are they only targeting Congress chief Rahul Gandhi all the time? That clearly shows that BJP does not have a real agenda, they are not even sticking to the issues mentioned in their manifesto,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
The BJP describes the note ban as a major step to revive India’s economy, and in the president’s note in BJP manifesto, party chief Amit Shah mentioned it as one of the historic achievements of the Modi government. However, several economic experts have been vocal in their criticism of the ill-conceived ban.
The Congress party, which seeks to renew its old glory by bringing back the Planning Commission and restoring socialist policies, has similarly deviated from their core campaign agenda, with the vision of its own manifesto now lying in tatters. Hardly anything is mentioned about its core manifesto anymore – even a call for a review of the Armed Forces Special Protection Act (AFSPA) in Jammu and Kashmir has now been pushed largely to the back burner.
Calling on Sardar Patel
And the party’s policies have come under increasingly shrill attack from Modi and the BJP. Recently, Modi said the Congress manifesto showed that the party was trying to fulfil the demands of Pakistan. “The only business of Pakistan is to export terror. Are people who want to break the country into pieces not anti-nationals? Congress said that it will repeal the sedition law. Can we expect this from a 125-year-old party? Why are they not mentioning these issues in their rallies now?” he asked.
In an official statement, BJP last month said that Congress was not talking about its poll promises as the party manifesto was totally opposite to the thinking of Congress stalwart Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, popularly known as Iron Man.
“If Sardar Patel was alive, he would have rejected this manifesto. They are abusing our armed forces. They want to reduce the strength of our forces in Kashmir. That is why they are not talking much about these issues during their campaigns,” BJP tweeted.
In yet another sign of the nosediving rhetoric in this election, acting on a complaint from BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, the Ministry of Home Affairs asked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to provide the “factual position” of his citizenship.
Swamy has alleged that Gandhi had declared his nationality as “British” in documents related to a United Kingdom company that he was a director in. But Congress attacked the government stating that it had been silent on allegations for the last five years because they themselves knew the truth.
“Such fake allegations would no longer be enough to distract the voters who are asking the government about lost jobs and the failed state of the economy. The BJP is not talking about failures of all its policies nor is it referring to what the party intends to do in next five years if it comes to power. They don’t even talk about air strikes against terror camps in Pakistan. They have stopped talking about their manifesto; now they only want to attack Congress and our party chief Rahul Gandhi,” spokesman Surjewala said.
