BJP releasing manifesto day before phase one of Gujarat Assembly polls is opportunistic

The BJP has finally released its party manifesto for the Gujarat Assembly polls, just one day before the first phase of the elections is scheduled to be held. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has launched the "Sankalp Patra" earlier today, December 8, just hours from the December 9 section of the two-phase Gujarat polls.

The manifesto, also known as the vision document, has come four days after the chief Opposition Congress led by Rahul Gandhi released its "Navsarjan Gujarat Manifesto", with the latter being well-received both among the Gujarat's local publications as well as in national dailies. From EBC quota to Patidars, to farm loan waivers, to jobless allowance, construction of 25 lakh houses, laptops to students, the promises have been many.

Jaitley, at the ceremony releasing the vision document, criticised Congress's stated objectives as "based on constitutional impossibility and financial improbability", indicating the job quota for Patidars, as per the demand of the Patidar leader and a rising star of Gujarati politics, Hardik Patel. 

Jaitley said that Gujarat witnessed a "growth rate of 10 per cent among large states in the past five years and added that the state’s GSDP growth is the highest in the country", at the vision document release. Jaitley also mentioned that in Gujarat, growth and development should speak for themselves, even as Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi has been consistently criticising the BJP for failing to fulfil the 2012 poll promises, including building 50 lakh houses, jobs, among others. Gandhi had also rebuked the BJP for "disrespecting" Gujarati voters for so far failing to come up with a manifesto, exactly as PM Modi and his lieutenants latched on the "neech aadmi" remark by Congress old-timer and now suspended partyman, Mani Shankar Aiyar.

BJP's 2017 manifesto talks of "all inclusive, all pervasive and all-round development", that's "at par with developed countries" of the world, with "participation" from everyone. The hyperbole seems to rely on PM Modi - the main face of the campaign - and his older development plank - vikas, despite the staggering unrest in the streets of Gujarat. While post-demonetisation and GST, traders, particularly textile merchants, have been affected to such an extent that rallies of tens of thousands have marked the past few months, there's no acknowledgement of the woes in the manifesto.

In fact, some of the promises, such as building 50 lakh pucca houses, are reruns of the 2012 declarations, as well as the points on job generation, education assistance, jobless youth allowance, etc, sound repetitive, and reminders of unfulfilled agendas.

Education schemes such as Mukhyamantri Yojana for poorer students, accommodation for 40,000 from poorer backgrounds, enrolling more girl students via Vidyalaxmi bonds, etc, are likely to find favour among women and poorer Hindus, particularly some in the disgruntled Dalit sections now rallying behind young leader Jignesh Mevani. 

In the health sector, announcement of super-speciality hospitals in cities like Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, etc, will tilt the upper class urban voters in favour of the BJP. However, extending medical cover of Rs 2 lakh to middle classes also may lure in some of the fence-sitters. 

Irrigation promises to include 16 lakh additional hectares sound good on paper, but increasingly, farmers have complained that the waters rerouted by Narmada dam are filling up canals instead of irrigating farm lands. 

The release of manifesto at the fag end nevertheless shows that the promises are not likely to have much of an impact on the voters, who, in all likelihood, have by now made up their minds.

Those loyal to PM Modi's electoral charms are going to stick to the BJP, manifesto or no manifesto, and those agitating on the streets will look at the unfulfilled promises of 2012 to draw their own conclusions. 

The manifesto launch ceremony was also marred by the resignation of BJP MP from Maharashtra's Bhandara-Gondiya region, Nana Patole, whose quitting one day before Gujarat polls is being read by many as ominous, and as a sign of rising grievance against the Modi-Shah brand of politics. Patole, a known critic of PM Modi, has resigned with immediate effect from the party.

The resulting unpredictability and nail-biting thrill of the 2017 Assembly polls in Gujarat is here to stay, even as BJP expects to derive maximum political mileage from the last-minute manifesto stunt.  

Also read: Gujarat elections: Why anger of Patidars, led by Hardik Patel, is palpable