MANIFESTOS

Manifestos have been published almost as an afterthought ( in the last 10 days or so ) by the two major parties. That too mostly as a rebuttal to the other. Congress brought out a charge sheet first - and rightly so. However , my view is that the party should’ve published an abridged charge sheet much in advance ( esp. about the issues on which BJP couldn’t have taken remedial measures) – which they didn’t . To say that public has a short memory and hence raise the issues at the last moment doesn’t wash .For, even if that is the case – it is precisely the duty of the opposition party not to let it go out of public memory.
On the other hand, BJP should’ve published its draft manifesto- a report card of sorts - much earlier ( highlighting the achievements which couldn’t be denied ) much earlier. To some extent they did by having a well mounted media campaign. However, the final BJP manifesto contains much of the same thing : Bijli Sadak Pani ( an extrapolation of it viz . making four lane roads, electricity round the clock in villages , water policy etc. ) barring a few new things such as making MP a biotech state , promoting Ayurvedic medicine by opening Ayurvedic clinics in rural areas, making every village a Patwari Halka , providing forest based jobs to tribal youth etc. My take on this that BJP is not all that good on providing a vision- it being a party of traders & techhies who are more cued to the applied aspects ( A corollary of this attitude is that it breeds greater corruption since this class is focused on getting the work done irrespective of the means ).
Congress manifesto too doesn't show any great state specific vision - In most parts, it is an extension of their policies at the centre ( viz. providing dole to the educated unemployed youth - an extension of NREGP ) or an extrapolation of the BJP govt.'s policies (giving wheat to the poor/ very poor at 1-2 rupee a kilo; giving 2 lakh rupees to the girl child on maturity ). Election after election manifestos of both the major parties look suspiciously similar - not merely in content but most of the time even in the design. Even their advertisements look so alike that a printer's devil of exchanging their logos may go unnoticed. It is understandable to some extent given the fact that the parties do not differ substantially in the major issues. However ,this is exactly what is creating a space for smaller parties with regional /sectoral outlook. Thus if the major parties do not reinvent themselves in the state soon a coalition era followed by the national parties playing second fiddle may not be farfetched.
The highlight of Congress manifesto is that the party has desperately tried to regain and retain its traditional vote banks in the state - tribals & muslims. They've promised Tantya Bhil University for tribal Languages & dialects as also setting up of a medical college for traditional tribal medicine; for muslims , the party has promised implementation of Sacchar committee report as also assistance to madrasas for imparting modern education.
Other interesting tit bits include : coming up with fancy wordplay : the term "very poor" for instance; abolishing SDO's power to remove elected Sarpanch and creation of youth brigades for environment protection .Strangely no mention of how to cope with the crisis the economy .
The manifesto is general in areas in which it should've been specific( viz. industry, tourism , sports etc. ) and specific where a general statement would've been called for ( viz. 2 lakh rupees to a girl child on maturity, 1 lakh jobs to the rural poor etc. ) specific promises in these areas call for trouble as the finances for these do not add up and riders have to be invariably introdced later.