Poll promises, UP, UP and away

Political parties in Uttar Pradesh are coming up with different answers in response to the central question the electorate has put to them: why must they be voted in? As the state goes to the polls — Saturday saw its first phase — it may be useful to consider the arguments being put forward in various manifestos, advertisements and public meetings.

With caste becoming a common denominator, ideology is fast replacing caste as an effective instrument of political mobilisation. The Samajwadi Party is on the defensive. It is selling its report card through ads in the print and TV (read ‘Big B’) media. It is also using lesser fora, like the Jan Jagran Sansthan and the Sarvangeen Vikas Sansthan, to castigate its opponents. While party ads highlight the achievements of the government, those issued by these outfits target Mayawati as enemy number one, and Sonia-Manmohan as enemy number two.

The SP ads claim among other things that UP tops in attracting investments. It also strings together a list of achievements of the UP government, from raising the retirement age for teachers to 62 to building 412 bridges and 23,112 km of roads in three years. This is in addition to the advocacy of SP by its star ambassador ‘Big B’ on TV (“UP mein hai dam, kyunki jurm hai yahan kam”), which is becoming a subject of ridicule reminiscent of the ‘India Shining’ ads of the BJP in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. Predictably, the manifesto promises Muslims an appropriate share in Government jobs.

The BSP did not issue a party manifesto; it reasons that the ideology of Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram is its manifesto. But Mayawati has charged Mulayam Singh with being a modern-day Kans and appealed to people to return her to power, like a modern-day Krishna, to end his misrule. The party is convincing its vote bank that its ‘inclusionary politics’ is designed to win a clear majority. Its focus is on winning over Brahmins and the upper castes; it projects its symbol, the elephant, as “haathi nahi Ganesh hai, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh hai”.

The BJP’s arguments emphasise ‘nationalism’ and ‘development’. The manifesto talks of Hindutva, law and order, Vande Mataram in schools, modernising madrassa education, bringing in a POTA-like law. It also promises to control price rise, provide women 20 per cent reservation in government jobs and 50 per cent in panchayats and municipalities, waive loans and provide jobs to the families of farmers who committed suicide in Bundelkhand. The party’s projected CM, Kalyan Singh, charged the Congress, SP and BSP with indulging in Muslim appeasement, and held them responsible for the spread of the SIMI networks.

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