FYI, the BJP manifesto created only little stir with its oft repeated bluff to implement Uniform Civil Code, and the NRC. Wasn’t the BJP in power in Karnataka for the past 5 years? The UCC is a dead horse. And it is flogged to death by the two-timing BJP every time elections are round the corner, which is once every five months on an average.

Compared to the BJP manifesto, the Congress manifesto has promised to ban the Bajrang Dal, the Sangh Parivar’s enforcement arm. And, to balance it out, the Congress also placed the Popular Front of India (PFI) alongside Bajrang Dal knowing well that the PFI had already been banned by the Modi-led BJP government!

One of the unsaid Congress promises is to rid Indian polity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even if that means replacing him with a more acceptable and amenable BJP leader. But more of that in the Congress 2024 general elections manifesto. For now, it is the “JhootLoot BJP Moneyfesto”, the name the Congress has given to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Karnataka election manifesto.

Does that make the Congress mean? Perhaps. The fact is, the Congress manifesto has to deliver the Congress out of the nine year Modi mess it is trapped in. The Congress has a chance with this edition of the Karnataka assembly elections. And the BJP manifesto with its usual trope, adds to the hope. From three-times a year free cooking gas cylinders for BPL families to 5 kg of rice every month and daily half a litre of free Nandini milk. Yup, the Kannadiga ‘Nandini’, not the Gujarati ‘Amul’!

The BJP will also set up a special police force to fight religious fanaticism. Should that reassure the minorities in the state? If the hue and cry over the Congress manifesto vow to ban the Bajrang Dal is anything to go by, the special police wing will be one more toothless tiger-cum-white elephant!

The BJP manifesto also promised to “transform Karnataka into India’s electric vehicle hub”. Something similar has been held out by K Annamalai to the Tamil Nadu voter! Note that the BJP is weighed down by anti-incumbency and its poll promises, including that of upgrading Bengaluru to the status of 'state capital region', sounded stale.

Five straight years is what every elected government gets. Waste those 5 years in hanky-panky and making dough for party leaders and then come out with another manifesto, what do you think the voter will do with the manifesto? For obvious reasons, the BJP manifesto isn’t a page-turner. It’s the proverbial old wine in a new bottle.

And, for those reasons, the Congress manifesto must have received relatively more visits in the short time it has since it was released on May 2. The BJP manifesto comes with a bigger trust-deficit. How many times have people heard "we will implement the uniform civil code in Karnataka/India…"?

The proposed special police wing called Karnataka-State Wing Against Religious Fundamentalism and Terror (K-SWIFT) is a novelty. But talk that the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana will benefit minority communities only generates equal amounts of resentment. Linked to this is the criticism that BJP is also resorting to “freebies” for votes.

The BJP’s hands are tied. The Congress is the ‘freebies’ king in these Karnataka elections: from free electricity and monthly allowances in the ‘Peaceful garden of all communities’, the title of the Congress manifesto. The Congress freebies are five guarantees: Gruha Jyothi, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Yuva Nidhi and Shakti. A sixth is that the “five guarantees” will be implemented the first day of the newly-installed Congress government.

Dumbed down, the ‘five guarantees’ are Rs 2000 per month to every woman head of a family, free bus passes for women, unemployment monthly allowance of Rs 3000 for graduates and Rs 1500 for diploma holders, 10 kilos of free rice per month, and 200 units of free power per household.

And as if to rub it in with a pinch of salt and spice to please, the Congress manifesto says all 'unjust and anti-people' laws passed by BJP will be struck down. The Congress called the BJP manifesto ‘Jhoot Loot BJP Moneyfesto’ and the BJP appeared completely dumbstruck. BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya was nowhere to be heard or seen. Bottom-line: The Congress manifesto takes the cake in creativity with its label “BJP MoneyFesto” clearly the crowd favourite. (IPA Service)