Off Manifestos & ….. Mandates (By Ajay Bhat Monnet Ispat)

A ritual of issuing manifestos precedes democratic process in India to elect State & Central Governments. Manifestos otherwise are important piece of declaration about the agenda of political parties they propose to fulfill if voted to power.

That we all know, but the promises made mainly by mainstream political parties have become longer in content & louder in commitment beyond the comprehension of average citizen of this country. Except key issues that concern broader population, I don’t assume an average citizen has the eagerness to read or unrelenting faith on wish list of manifestos. The key political parties also detail the plan outlay of expenditure on various heads like health care, education, infrastructure etc and if one were to add up the maths of these numbers, any one would wonder the veracity of such exorbitant claims & essentially the resources needed to accomplish them. Tall promises and big numbers have rendered these documents non-interesting subjects of study by an average Indian. However every political party manifestos have couple of key issues, which actually become the tag line during their respective campaigns.

Manifestos are important in so far as Agenda of a political party it wishes to fulfill and solicit votes. It ought to be brief, concise and touch key burning issues the country faces and of course is innovative, path breaking & guiding document to steer the country into a directions, which engages almost every citizen directly & indirectly. People don’t get engaged to a manifesto, which is inclusive of long promises and gets lost in the maze of commitments. Hence read more