6th April

Be My Valentine

The article talks about the political bull-fighting that is taking place ahead of general elections. While this time the fight is more on seat gaining rather then ideological differences, all political parties have kept their options open for post-poll alliances. 

While none of the alliances have come up with a common manifesto, the primary objective for both the national parties, Congress and BJP, would be to improve their individual seat tally to be in a better bargaining position in the case of much evident hung Parliament. NCP’s Sharad Pawar’s speech against Congress and BJP in Orissa, even though party is ally of Congress at the centre, is the evidence that the parties are keeping their options open. As per the statement of PM, Congress is still open to alliances with every major regional party as well as CPM post-elections. On the other hand, leaders like Mulayam Singh, Lalu Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan have also endorsed Manmohan Singh as a leader. CPM sees UPA as a more natural ally then NDA. 

While the post-poll coalition is almost a reality this time, it is necessary to have a stable and cohesive government at the centre considering the economic scenario as well as the situation in the neighborhood. 

Anything Goes

The article condemns overgenerous promises made by both, BJP and Congress, on eve of general elections without even a thought of how they would execute it after coming to power. 

While BJP promised 35kg rice/wheat at Rs.2 per kg for families below poverty line as against Congress promise of 25kg rice/wheat at Rs.3 per kg, none of the parties gave idea of how exactly they would provide it and if it was possible then why didn’t they do it when they were in power? While Congress has promised reservation quotas in private sector it never thought about the capital outflow it would cause in a situation when country desperately needs capital. BJP promised tax exemption for army men and paramilitary forces but never thought that it is the time when country needs to widen the tax net and not narrow it. Even subsidized interest rates for housing loans is a bad idea since it would cause huge diversion of funds. Loan waiver to all farmers indiscriminately would end up helping rich farmers as well. None of the parties have taken into consideration the abysmal state of government finances before going for such spending spree. There is no clarity on execution of this extravaganza. Also no idea has been told to prevent the huge amount of social spending that gets leaked during execution. 

While BJP’s idea of raising the personal income tax limit and revoking FBT are welcome and would act as stimulus, they have redisplayed their 20th century mentality by promising the Ram Temple construction at the exact site where Babri Masjid was demolished.