AA Edit | Kejriwal's AAP matches BJP in pre-poll one-upmanship
The legislature of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the government there have seen their powers systematically being taken away and vested with the Union government but the main players in the elections would not take the exercise lightly. Instead, they are setting new benchmarks in their attempts to woo the electorate, which, if proven successful, will then be rolled out in other states, and even in national elections.
It has been the practice till now for the political parties to publish an umbrella manifesto elaborating their plans for the next five years if voted to power in the state or in the Centre. They would contain the larger policy framework in which their governments would operate and would routinely address the pressing problems at the time of the election.
The BJP and the AAP have, after issuing the manifesto, gone specific now. A day after the BJP came out with a manifesto for the students and youth, the AAP has issued one for the middle class. While the BJP’s second manifesto is obviously targeting one of the support bases of the AAP, the current ruling party would like to make inroads into the middle class, the saffron party’s support base for long across the nation.
The BJP has offered free education for the needy and financial assistance to youths preparing for competitive examinations. It will also have a special financial assistance scheme for the students from Scheduled Caste communities. It has plans for welfare boards for taxi, auto drivers and domestic workers, a segment which has hitherto been the trusted base of the AAP since its inception.
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, in his turn, has pounced on the document saying the promise to offer free education to the needy is in fact a ploy to stop the universal free education system the government in the national capital runs. He has also read between the lines and said the BJP will close down the mohalla clinics, an idea that has become part of Delhi’s healthcare infrastructure.
The AAP has now set its eyes on the middle class and has come out with a manifesto for them. And the intriguing part of it is that the party is not making some promises for them; it wants the Union government to do them, instead. The seven-point list in the manifesto airs the demands of the middle class, which no longer wishes to be “victims of tax terrorism”, as Mr Kejriwal put it. It includes a hike in the income-tax exemption limit, removal of GST on essential goods “as it disproportionately affects middle class households”, raising of the education budget from the current two per cent to 10 per cent of the GDP, capping of private school fees and hiking spending in the healthcare sector. The party has a couple of demands for the senior citizens, too.
Mr Kerjriwal, who has proved to the BJP that he can match it in the game of political one-upmanship, has put the BJP in a no-win situation now: if the Union budget, scheduled ahead of the Delhi elections, addresses these issues, then he would take credit for what the BJP has done and if it does not, then he can still blame the party for the grave lapse.
There are two weeks to go for the Delhi election, and it is possible that more political experiments are on their way to being rolled out before the electorate here.