With the biggest electorate, 97 crore (970 million) voters, the nation celebrates the festival of democracy like no other country. The number of Indian voters exceeds the entire population of many continents. India owns the election process naturally, as it is not only the largest democracy but also the mother of democracy and diversity in the entire world. The democracy celebration started in India as Lok Sabha elections are slated during April-May 2024 to elect the new Parliament.
Western deep state, seemingly perturbed by the rise of Bharat is, wishing to intervene in India’s electoral process by periodically pushing up political upstarts who question India’s democracy, its institutions, those who make wild allegations that an ‘authoritarian’ Government of India is using investigating agencies to harass opposition political leaders, who allege that Election Commission is somehow manipulating over 50 lakhs stand-alone EVMs to deliver results in favour of BJP and so on. In 2019, there were over 10 lakh polling booths, which will surely increase now. In Nav Bharat, the old-style casteist/communalist/soft separatist and freebie politics have been left far behind, and the Opposition parties are struggling to set their election narrative. The sheer scale and supersonic momentum with which the Modi Govt functions leaves the opposition suffocated, and it is unable to pitch itself on any issue. Left with no issue, the opposition parties are trying to catch any straw from the winds this summer, picking up the Electoral Bonds issue, in which the combined opposition parties got 2/3 of the funds, and BJP about 1/3. Similarly, the congress-left ecosystem has started spreading false propaganda that NDA’s slogan of ‘is baar 400 paar’, setting a winning target of 400 seats, means that BJP wants to undertake big-scale constitutional revisions. It is baseless propaganda and ironic as well because out of the 100+ amendments of the Constitution so far, about 80 amendments have been done by the Congress party itself when in power! BJP should address these false propagandas effectively as the global left ecosystem has unleashed information warfare against Modi Govt.
BJP’s manifesto, the Sankalp Patra, popularly called Modi ki Guarantee, is a commitment and determination towards building a stable and prosperous nation. It is less a party’s manifesto and more a vision plan for an aspirational growth-oriented country – Bharat 2047. BJP has redefined its political mandate in an innovative manner with its Nation First ideology which reflects in its manifesto. Modi Government is so confident of its track record and consistent policy that it wasn’t required to resort to freebies in its election-eve budget of Feb 2024. It can be said justifiably that BJP’s manifesto is also a reflection of the 5-Pran- the five pledges that PM Modi spoke about in his Independence Day address in 2022. The five pledges are – Moving forward with a resolve to build a developed Vikasit Bharat, shedding the colonial slavery mindset, taking pride in Bharat’s cultural heritage and legacy, unity and integrity of the nation and duties of the citizens, including persons holding high posts.
The BJP’s manifesto emphasises the party’s commitment to the nation’s development through four pillars: women, youth, the underprivileged, and farmers. It discusses initiatives to foster a conducive environment for startups and entrepreneurship, with an unwavering focus on making India a global manufacturing hub to boost employment. It also talks of the expansion of credit programs like Mudra to support aspiring entrepreneurs, empowerment of 3 crore rural women to become ‘Lakhpati Didis’, expansion of health services focused on women’s health issues, strengthening of AIIMS network and expansion of PM-ABHIM for quality and robust healthcare, expansion of Jan Aushadhi Kendra network for affordable medicines and Ayushman coverage for the transgender community. The Government also fulfilled the long-pending demand of abrogating Article 370, thus fully integrating Jammu & Kashmir into the nation. The way the Govt handled the Covid crisis in a multi-dimensional way makes it a textbook case for any country to follow in the future in times of pandemics.
Focus on women:
It is to be especially noted that the manifesto has a consistent approach towards Women’s Empowerment. PM Modi’s governance especially focused on women, with all schemes benefitting women and young girls. As PM Modi himself comes from a poor background, and having seen the suffering of poor women with lack of resources like cooking gas cylinders, electricity and housing, he has strived to ensure that these schemes are addressed to women in their names. Especially commendable is the Swachh Bharat program for the provision of household toilets to protect the dignity and safety of women, who were left to the vagaries of nature, nocturnal animals, and prowling local goons etc, and were facing severe health issues due to lack of sanitation and hygiene. The PM Awaas Yojana strives to provide housing in the name of women. Since 2014, the `Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign has been on curtailing the female feticide prevalent in many States; the focus consistently continues to be on younger girls acquiring education and skills so that women are empowered to lead their lives with dignity and safety. PM Modi is the first PM of the country who had the sensitivity to understand the needs of women, even though he himself is a man, who spoke on toilets for women from his Independence Day address from Red Fort, and has driven the Govt systems to keep the focus firmly on women-first policies.
In contrast, the Congress party’s manifesto titled `Nyaya patra’ is an exercise in wooing voters with freebies. In a no-holds barred attack on the now rapidly developing Indian economy, it vows to legislate the MSP for farmers ( the Modi Govt rolled out MSP packages which are already 100 per cent more than the Congress regime’s MSP), it promises to give Rs 100000 to poor women (without defining the poor category and without informing the people on the quantum of funds required) when the Modi Government has extricated a humongous 25 crores people out of poverty; Congress also vows to implement the caste-census to further divide only Hindu society, when PM Modi’s welfare schemes reach out predominantly to these very sections of the poor. It also wants to bring back the lawless elections it used to conduct in the 1970s-80s by going back to ballot papers; rigging in the elections by criminal mafia affiliated to political parties was the norm then; that period also gave rise to the epithet `criminalisation of politics’. Congress party seems more driven by the Western woke jargon like DEI – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; they throw in the catchwords of equity and justice liberally, hoping to garner the eyeballs of the elite, which is always looking for validation from the West. Its manifesto talks of establishing a Diversity Commission for social inclusion, with LGBTQ also thrown in for good measure, at a time when PM Modi’s Government has implemented massive social inclusion and welfare programs for all sections of society. Congress party seems to think that Indian people do not understand justice, equity and inclusion and that it is a messiah to deliver these to the uninformed voters.
More strange is the proposition that `Congress will ensure that minorities have the freedom of choice of dress, food, language and personal laws’; it may be Congress’s 1986 Shah Bano moment with the unmistakable connotation that the minorities are pressured under the Modi Government, whereas in reality the ‘minorities’ enjoy all rights of dress, food, language and personal laws. The manifesto directly appeases its active Muslim and Christian vote-banks and panders to an international anti-Modi agenda which blatantly peddles lies that there is a `climate of fear, intimidation and hatred’ in India. Nothing can be farther from the truth, as `minorityism’ is deeply ingrained in the ecosystem, and to which all political parties continue to pay their tribute, in more ways than one.
It seems like the Congress party is fully assured that it would not return to power. Hence, it made wild-goose promises; as it wouldn’t come to power, no one would question or seek accountability from it. It is estimated that Rs 12 -15 lakh crores were looted from the Indian people and Indian exchequer in the disastrous Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi rule during 2004-2014; even if it returned all the looted money back to the Government, it wouldn’t be able to finance the hare-brained promises of its manifesto. It is another question that the esteemed Election Commission doesn’t pull up political parties that make extravagant and impractical promises in their manifestos, which actually amount to electoral bribery. The Election Commission may recall that a petition is pending in the Supreme Court which asks the political parties to furnish details on how they are going to raise revenues for every freebie that they announce during elections.
Unmatched track-record of Modi Government 2014-24
Whether the Indian electorate understands these ecosystem-driven complexities or not, PM Modi enjoys the trust of a majority of the people, having delivered massive development of economy and infrastructure, with Make-in India, Start-up India, Standup India, etc, the catapulting of Indian economy as the fifth largest in the world; the road, rail, airports and seaports connectivity in the transportation sector has changed the face of the country. The increasing India’s GDP, named as the only bright spot in the world, the massive GST collections which reflect the people and market sentiment, the ever-increasing Foreign Investments and India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves, the numbers of IITs, IIMs, AIIMSs established, the less than 5 per cent inflation, the exceptional quality of diplomacy in a constantly changing geopolitical scenario where armed conflicts are raging in a few countries, bringing back Indians stranded in different war-zones, the spectacular conduct of G20 across several cities in India making it a people’s conclave, the export of defence equipment including missiles, all are a testament to Modi’s India.
The BJP Government’s social welfare programs are very expansive and have helped the poor of India to extricate themselves out of poverty; in the last 10 years, more than 25 crores of Indians have been helped out of poverty. Flagship programs like LPG Gas cylinders, individual household toilets, piped water scheme, PM housing scheme, the Ayushman Medical health scheme, skill development programs, Mudra scheme for the poor, Direct Benefit Transfers for the poor and farmers titled Kisan Samman yojana, the massive rice distribution scheme for the poor, each of these reach tens of crores of people, and are the largest poverty alleviation and public health schemes in the world. There is no discrimination on the grounds of religion or caste in any of these schemes; on the contrary, many researchers feel that the second largest majority in the country, the Muslims, benefit in disproportionately higher ranges, ie. 16-18 per cent of population receives 32-35 per cent of all benefits from the Modi Government. It is also to be noted that Modi Govt can implement schemes of such a magnitude and scale, as it is a corruption-free Government, and every rupee is spent for the people.
In an expression of the emergence of self-reliance and cultural pride and keeping future needs in mind, the Modi Government built the grand new Parliament complex as well as Bharata Mandapam on a grand scale that befitted an emerging power. The National War Memorial is built to commemorate the valour of the armed forces. The Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir is the fulfilment of a 500-year struggle and is a feather in the cap of PM Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s Govts.
It can be said justifiably that Modi Government achieved more in ten years than the previous sixty-five years. PM Modi has redefined Brand India and the BJP manifesto is a confident reflection of this amazing track record and its futuristic vision.
