When it comes to manifestos of political parties, a section of the intelligentsia and the media exhibits a dismissive tendency that riles political activists like me. A major national daily last week called manifesto-making nothing but a “cut-and-paste” job. This tendency is symptomatic of a larger habit of the chatterati sneering from the comfort of their well-furnished drawing rooms at all political parties, indeed at the political process in general. The reality is quite otherwise. Most political parties, especially those with a national perspective, have begun taking policy issues—and, by extension, manifesto preparation—far more seriously than before.

Now it is the turn of the media to take manifestos more seriously and catalyse a widespread public debate, x-raying both their specific assurances and their overarching visions. The performance of parties in power, especially, has to be scrutinised closely. At the same time, the assurances of those making a bid for power also have to be subjected to rigorous examination from the point of view of commitment, feasibility and their earlier track record. A debate of this kind will make political parties more accountable, the electorate more well-informed, and India’s democracy more enriched.

The Congress manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections 2009, which was released last week, has escaped a serious scrutiny in the media. The one thing to be said in its favour is that it is very well written. It has made up in style what it largely lacks in substance. It is excessive on self-congratulation but certainly not shoddy in its architecture. On substantive matters, however, it fails the test of satisfying a searching mind. Look at the points on which the Congress manifesto is silent. There is not a word in it on fighting corruption. It’s as if in the assessment of the Congress leadership, the problem does not exist at all. Not surprising since the party’s track record of five years in government shows that it took no steps to fight corruption. The war against corruption requires personal conviction, moral courage and political authority. Sadly, these were not the qualities that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh demonstrated during his five years in office. To his credit, not even his worst critics questioned his integrity in financial matters. However, by allowing blatant misuse of institutions to let Ottavio Quattarocchi, the Italian wheeler-dealer who was the prime accused in the Bofors scandal, go scot-free, he made it known that fighting corruption was not on his personal agenda. Any remnant of moral authority that he had in this matter evaporated when he permitted the cash-for- votes scandal to be enacted last year to purchase the allegiance of opposition MPs just to keep his government afloat after the Left parties withdrew their support to it.

... contd.