MyVoice: Views of our readers 16th April 2024

When will manifestos be realistic?

‘Modi Ka Guarantee,’ a 24-carat certified guarantee with UCC, one vote for the nation as part of its election manifesto & the Congress manifesto promising the magic of eliminating poverty with one stroke are nothing but promises which can never be fulfilled. The general public is well aware that these have been made to divert the people’s attention from real critical issues which confront them. Manifestos should be documents which reflect the ideology of parties and as such should be realistic.

N R Raghuram, Hyderabad

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BJP manifesto talks about the issues like One nation one election, Uniform Civil Code, CAA, inclusion of new health insurance scheme to senior citizens, consecration of Ram Mandir, free electricity to poor etc. The party boasts it as Modi’s guarantee but forgets about Modi’s guarantees in 2014 and 2019. Now it promises hollow guarantees and give no accountability to old guarantees. It forgets about unemployment, poverty, inflation, price rise etc which are the core issues. It talks about CAA but deliberately doesn’t bring the NRC issue. People are afraid that it will raise the issue of NRC after winning elections. Mainly minorities are afraid of controversial items like Uniform Civil Code and CAA.

Zakir Hussain, Kazipet

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The ruling BJP has unveiled its manifesto, ‘Sankalp Patra’, for the Lok Sabha elections, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasising the party’s commitment to the welfare of ‘GYAN’ — Garib, Yuva, Annadaata and Naari Shakti. The main rival Congress’ manifesto, on the other hand, focuses on social welfare, economic reforms and addressing inequality through targeted interventions such as healthcare expansion, agricultural support and a caste census. It is for the people to judge who kept promises and who did not. Manifestos are no commitment and, therefore, not legally binding.

N Sadhasiva Reddy, Bengaluru

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If the voters make up their minds on whom to vote and whom not to vote on the basis of issues like unemployment and inflation, the BJP does not stand a chance of doing well in the election. One thing is certain. A third Modi term will see authoritarian rule, recasting of India as a Hindu majoritarian state, treatment of religious minorities as second class citizens and widening inequalities in wealth and incomes. This election is an opportunity for the mass of Indian humanity to save democracy and the Constitution.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, TN

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The Modi ki Guarantee - 2024 released by the BJP deserves appreciation. It is focussed on creating infrastructure and IT hubs in addition. It achieved Sriram Mandir, Article 370 abrogation and even made attempts to create Uniform Civil Code for the entire country. Maintenance of existing systems such as in railways is equally more important than introducing new trains such as Vande Bharat, Amrit Bharath or Namo Bharat trains etc. Ambitions are no doubt big but then voters also would prefer to receive rewards for their education, occupations etc so that they would be able to survive in the society with controlled inflation.

Katuru Durga Prasad Rao, Hyderabad

Excise scam key perpetrators in dock

Kejriwal’s goal was not the nation’s development, but acquiring power and status and this landed him in soup and it is very difficult to come out of it. Arvind Kejriwal has, in his young career, shown a great ability to surprise and get the better of larger political opponents. In the aftermath of his arrest in the liquor policy case, he is pushed to the wall. The ED said that Kejriwal had asked KCR’s daughter K Kavitha to reach out to him to explore opportunities to Delhi liquor business. The link is established and now it is history. Telugu pharma and liquor tycoons played a key role in the Delhi liquor scam. The kingpin and the key conspirator of the alleged excise policy scam are in a soup now.

C K Ramani, Mumbai