Delhi Elections | Extravagant promises, that too in writing

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Subir Roy

Extravagant promises are a part of the election ritual. Not only are they made, many are even included in election manifestoes which are documents of record. As is to be expected, the winning party often fails to keep many of the promises made after coming to power.

What is more, the electorate has traditionally been quite indulgent by not holding ruling parties to account on the promises made during campaigning. This has somewhat devalued election promises, even though they find place in election manifestoes.

The Delhi assembly elections seem to have struck a new high with the leading parties—the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Congress —making abundant promises of freebies in their election manifestoes. In view of the severe air pollution in Delhi, parties have added a new dimension covering the environmental angle.

The reason for this new high is that the AAP, in its five years in power, struck a new high in distributing a lot of freebies. The result is that it has no option but to promise to carry on with the freebies and do a bit more if it is voted back to power. This has made it somewhat obligatory for the BJP and the Congress to make similar promises.

The AAP, in its manifesto, has said that it will continue with the ongoing power and water subsidy. The Delhi government currently pays 100 percent subsidy for consumption of up to 200 units of power per month and 50 percent subsidy for consumption between 200 and 400 units.

The BJP, in its manifesto, has said that it will continue with these subsidies, and has also promised clean drinking water for every household. Going one better, in its manifesto the Congress has promised to supply free electricity for up to 300 units, 50 percent subsidy on 300-400 units, 30 percent subsidy on 400-500 units and 25 percent subsidy on 500-600 units.

On the environment, the AAP has promised in its manifesto that it will reduce air pollution by one-third by planting 20 million trees. Additionally, it will revive the highly-polluted Yamuna and develop a beautiful waterfront along the river’s banks.

The BJP has promised to introduce 10,000 ‘green’ buses. To clean up the Yamuna’s water it will set up a Yamuna Development Board, which will also develop the floodplains along the river.

The Congress has gone ahead of the other two by releasing a green manifesto entirely dedicated to environmental issues. It has promised allocation of 25 percent of the state’s budget to fighting pollution. It will also make Delhi India’s first electric vehicle city, by procuring 15,000 e-buses and building requisite infrastructure.

The Congress’ green manifesto promises to increase the city’s green cove to 30 percent, subsidise Metro fares for students, improve the city’s dust management, and create a “rice stubble to energy fund” to establish stubble-crushing plants which will create inputs for power plants.

On education, the AAP has already done a lot and is credited with having transformed the face of public school education. So where does it go from here? Keeping electoral realities in mind, it has promised to introduce a ‘Deshbhakti curriculum’ in government schools to inculcate a love of country and make students aware of their responsibilities.

The AAP will also introduce spoken English, soft skills and personality development classes for students who have completed their schooling in Delhi in the last five years so as to improve their ability to get good jobs.

The BJP has promised to build 200 new schools and 10 new colleges in Delhi, and a public library in each of the city’s 280 wards.

The Congress has spread the net wide to create more income opportunities. It has promised to set up a ‘Rajiv Gandhi internship program’ for young graduates, set up a Rs 5,000-crore corpus for a Yaari Startup Incubation Fund and a Rs 1,000-crore corpus for a Homi Bhabha Research Fund.

The AAP has promised to expand the Metro network to 500 km, making it one of the world’s largest networks which will connect new far flung areas. It will also deliver well-designed, beautifully-landscaped and safe roads.

The BJP will complete the Delhi-Mumbai highway in three years, cutting short the road distance between the two cities to 12 hours. It will give free electric scooters to college-going women from poor families.

The AAP has promised doorstep delivery of rations, free pilgrimage to a million senior citizens, and Rs 1 crore compensation to kin of a safai karamchari who dies on duty, and work with the Centre to include Bhojpuri in the eighth schedule of the Constitution.

The BJP has promised good quality wheat flour at Rs 2 per kg for the poor and a job for one child of every victim of the 1984 riots.

The Congress has promised an unemployment allowance Rs 5,000 per month for graduates and Rs 7,500 per month for post-graduates.

The overriding reality is that very few actually read through an election manifesto as they are usually quite long, and among those who actually go through them fewer still, other than scribes and party campaign managers, remember any of their content.

Subir Roy is a senior journalist and author. Views are personal.