With TN elections less than a month away, only a few parties have released their manifestos. Whatever the strategy behind the delay, the public will end up having little time to study, compare, debate and make-up their minds, which is not a good situation.
Both the DMK & PMK manifestos are a long list of promises, but miss the basics.
The DMK manifesto is 144 pages long, promises many goodies, freebies & subsidies, and is a daunting to-do list. It includes a commitment to ban liquor, institute lok ayukta, implement right to services act, & providing a single window clearance for approving new business applications within 100 days. But it is silent on basics – housing, food, drinking water, quality education, law & order, etc. Any government’s first job is to provide citizens with the basic needs. DMK has failed to provide these before. This manifesto doesn’t promise any great change or transformation. It is incrementally progressive & populist. TN may not see any dramatic progress if DMK wins.
The PMK manifesto is no different. It promises liquor ban, free education, & free healthcare. The document is a list of more 300 to-do items, many sounding similar to those on DMK’s list.
Both parties have not bothered to discuss the challenges of execution, milestones & dates, potential hurdles & risks, best & worst case outcomes.
The DMDK manifesto is full of absurd promises to fix petrol price at Rs.45, building malls to provide jobs & income, and many more. It is a shining example of how ignorant & indifferent voters have allowed such parties & leaders to flourish in the state.
Other parties may possibly come out with similar sounding manifestos, with lots of freebies, subsides, welfare measures etc., but ultimately without any commitment to meet basic needs and transform the state in any meaningful way.
When the political thinking & goals of most parties are individually ridiculous, the actions & outcomes of any coalition government can only be disastrous.
The voters can only blame themselves for allowing such stupidity to run amok. They must seek and promote a new breed of socially responsible and capable politicians to transform the state. Baby steps are for babies, not for bold adult intelligent voters if they want to see a positive transformation in their own lifetime.
The urban educated voters have turned a blind eye, while the rest have mostly grabbed the goodies & freebies, leaving the state in corrupt & incapable hands.
They need to wakeup.