The BJP manifesto for the Assembly elections was an exercise in continuity. As the political party in power and having a clearer understanding of the money available, it has rightly resisted the urge to go one-up on every other party. And this will hold them in good stead on February 4. But by being too practical and perhaps a tad honest, the BJP has inadvertently admitted that despite being in power for five years it has not been able to complete its agenda on employment and infrastructure development.
There has been criticism from some quarters that the manifesto was silent on casinos and medium of instruction. The censure seems misplaced. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar rightly pointed out that casinos were introduced by the Congress government and throwing them out is difficult given the present legal framework. There is merit in this argument and only former chief minister Digambar Kamat who made an attempt to move casinos into the Arabian Sea but failed, will understand. This task is now rendered more difficult thanks to the protection accorded by the BJP by redefining the term ‘offshore’ to include rivers. On the issue of MoI, the BJP reiterated its earlier stance that the medium of instruction at the primary level should be in the mother tongue, but the existing system of grants was the best and more inclusive.
Despite opposition from certain quarters and a promise from the Congress to scrap the investment promotion board, the BJP manifesto says that the government will continue with the single-window system to bring in more industries and create employment. One might recall that the BJP had promised to create 50,000 jobs and the least it could have done was to give voters an indication of how successful it was in this endeavor before soliciting another term. Sadly, the manifesto was silent on this point of concern.
Since the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress had promised increased expenditure on certain welfare schemes of the government, the BJP was hard-pressed to come up with a counter offer. Aware of the precarious financial position of the State, the best that the BJP could promise was to link all welfare schemes to the inflation index. While this seems like a reasonable thing to do, as a promise it is not likely to be fully understood by beneficiaries of the various government schemes.
Infrastructure is probably, the BJP’s best bet and the government is seeking another term to complete a host of projects. A dedicated four-lane corridor from North to South and West to East, which was planned during the tenure of the previous Congress government is inching towards completion. This project, especially the Zuari bridge, is dependent on financial support from the Centre and therein lies the rub. The BJP has forced voters to consider the benefits the state could get from the Centre if its government is re-elected.
If one was looking for shock and awe in the BJP manifesto, it was missing. However, the party finally came out with a host of promises which are more implementable than the wild assertions made by others.
