Three days before the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Bhartiya Janta Party has released it’s election manifesto. It was launched in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders of BJP including Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh.
Congress released it’s manifesto a week prior to BJP and now we can say that the official battle of making and keeping promises has begun; promises which are made in every election year by almost every party and candidate.
A manifesto majorly constitutes hopes of the masses that the politicians convert into promises, expecting voters to fall for the gimmick.
While the Congress has named it’s manifesto “Congress will deliver”, BJP describes it as “Sankalp Patra“. Interestingly the latter is all about making promises and the former is about giving assurances. Now before losing the track, let me take you through some of the major highlights of both manifestos.
National Security –
On the issue of national security, both parties almost share the same views. BJP says “party is fully committed to nationalism and has zero tolerance towards terrorism. Their manifesto also states that the armed forces will continue to have a “free hand” to challenge any threats.
Congress has stated in it’s manifesto that it will ensure that defence spending is increased to meet requirements of the Armed Forces; suitable policies to address data security are evolved to ensure cyber, financial and communication security. It also says that the domestic capacity to manufacture defence and security equipments will be rapidly expanded.
33% Reservation for Women in Parliament Assemblies
Both the parties have assured that if they return to power 33% reservation will be provided to women in the Parliament.
Rural Development
Although their methods and way of execution are different, both parties seem to be very serious about rural development. While BJP has promised farmers an income support of Rs 6000 under Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, Congress has promised to launch MNREGA 3.0 which will increase the guaranteed days of employment up to 150 days and more.
Now let’s have a look at the list of contradictory policies of both parties that find mention in their respective manifestos :
Congress
- Rahul Gandhi led INC has stated in it’s manifesto that if it returns to power, 22 lakh job vacancies will be filled up within the government sector to boost employment.
- Nyay Scheme will guarantee a sum of Rs 72000 per year to 20% of the poor Indian families.
- Sedition and defamation laws will be repealed; laws that allow detention without trial will be amended; Prevention of Torture Act will be passed, and ASFPA will be revoked.
- Niti Ayog will be scrapped and replaced with a “lean” Planning Commission
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)
- BJP has promised to build Ram Mandir which doesn’t find any mention in the Congress’s manifesto
- While the saffron party’s manifesto says that Articles 370, 35 A will be repealed, INC’s manifesto is silent on this issue.
- The ruling party also said that the Citizenship Bill will be passed.
- It stuck with it’s resolve to bring in the system of simultaneous elections in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies .
- Implementation of Uniform Civil Code.
So, here is the brief description and comparison of manifestos of two major political parties of India, now the ball is in the voter’s court so read sincerely and vote wisely.