High on josh

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High on josh

Thursday, 04 April 2019 | Pioneer

High on josh

The Congress’ manifesto promises the moon and seems earnest but does it keep it real?

“Every page should explode, either because of its staggering absurdity, the enthusiasm of its principles or its typography,” said Tristan Tzara, one of the key figures of the anti-establishment movement called Dadaism. Though the Congress has never been anti-establishment in nature, its manifesto defines its intended political space and ownership of minds with a liberal spirit and fresh breath enthusiasm. One wonders whether the gush of a public promise made by the new Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has much to do with a media-fed acceptance of a return of Narendra Modi, albeit with reduced numbers, and saves him the responsibility of executing it as a deliverer. Or whether it is a vision document indeed for a party undoubtedly on the road to revival, now helmed by a young leadership. But perhaps, it has got to do more with the Congress’ dire need to emerge as a polar opposite of the aggressive hypernationalism and statuesque giganticism of the BJP, with more ear-to-the ground concerns of welfarism. And to drive home the point, the Congress has been publicising how its document was based on the feedback of common people and experts alike for the last year, a true participatory exercise of democracy and not an imposition. It is another story that some of its own promises run counter to its own policies in the past but the reloaded version does need a sales pitch. Besides, the Modi years emerged as a reaction to the Congress years and the party understands that it’s a “perform or perish” choice now.

Of course, the social welfare theme has been highlighted by Rahul in his speeches with NYAY seeking to eliminate poverty through handout schemes. A more streamlined GST, a budgetary hike in health and education, transparent poll funding, a separate kisan budget, going beyond the present Ayushman Bharat scheme to implement the Right to Healthcare Act and guaranteeing every citizen free medicines and hospitalisation make up the other frills. The biggest promise is to address the vacuum of joblessness and fill up four lakh Central government jobs by 2020. Besides providing incentives for smaller enterprises. But the problem with such earnest spirit is the wherewithal or the funds to implement a grand plan. There’s no devil simply because there’s no detail. So Nyay doesn’t come with the fine print of whether this means the suspension of other subsidies. Nor does it answer how can the universal health coverage scheme work with a severely compromised health infrastructure. Even the party’s peacenik moves on holding unconditional talks in Kashmir and amending the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act seem a tad bit unrealistic considering that the BJP has demonised Pakistan-exported terror as a key electoral plank and made a virtue of the protection of national security, an idea that a substantial part of the electorate is already sold on. Of course, there’s a need to, as the Congress says, “eschew muscular militarism” and think of an innovative negotiation model in the Valley, considering no approach has worked so far. But perhaps there is a need to grade it realistically than leapfrog into start-up mode. And by pledging to scrap the sedition law, a colonial relic which should have been abolished anyway, it cannot disown its failure to act on it earlier, in fact abusing it to invoke the Emergency and clamp down on individuals. Even its gestures on net neutrality, censorship, women and LGBTQIA rights might make the right noises but are also a mirror of what it had not done when it had the chair. Of course, one might argue that manifestoes have lost their relevance in times of grand announcements on popular media but somewhere they embody an academic depth and set a template for political discourse. Even if not implemented, they represent an idea bank of good intentions that definitely merit a discussion, regardless of whichever party is putting them forth. The only problem is that politicians have made selling dreams such a viable artform that any kind of honest effort is considered alien or mala fide. The divisive politics of today has crept into the Indian mindspace so insidiously that there is never acceptance of any contrarian viewpoint. All the Congress manifesto does is, therefore, lay the expectation of a counter by the BJP for valuing its worth.

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