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Making sure they occupy the vacuum created by the anti-incumbency factor surrounding the Congress , the AAP has policies for Muslims, tribals, lower castes and the Valmiki community.
The AAP manifesto states: “The Muslims of our country have voted for Congress to prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from coming to power. This vote has happened due to fear and absence of any real alternative.”
The manifesto spells out a chapter on communalism violence and secularism, apart from one on “non-discrimination for Muslims”. The AAP promises judicial reform for Muslims in a manner that cases are decided within six months. Also, it has asked for “swift dispensation of justice for Muslim youth arrested on charges of terrorist activity.” To woo the lower castes among minority communities, it has also assured Scheduled Caste (SC) category status for Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians. “AAP believes reservation should be religion-neutral and based on actual advantage,” the manifesto reads.
In case of riots, it said it assured “punishment for those officials who fail to perform their duty of controlling communal violence” – an accusation quite often laid on the Bharatiya Janata Party prime minister candidate, Narendra Modi.
The party has promised to provide constitutional recognition for nomadic and de-notified communities on a par with the SCs and the Scheduled Tribes and called for infrastructural support for their basic amenities. For tribals, the party vowed to effectively implement the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and the Forest Rights Act, so that “there is no land acquisition or extraction from forest areas without permission of gram sabhas and their rights to manage, sustainably use and protect all natural resources.” However, this goes contrary to their endorsement for the Land Acquisition Act, which was passed last year.
The AAP, in the manifesto, has termed it as “a good beginning”, but also has stated some additional provisions.
Also, the party believes that the benefits of extraction of mineral resources including coal, iron ore, etc should be shared with the local communities.
For the welfare of the Valmiki community – a section which had openly supported AAP in Delhi Assembly elections – has many things to promise ranging from ending contractual jobs, providing quality education, healthy job environment and ending discrimination.
The manifesto also raised the inequality aspect in the caste reservation system, while also supporting the “existing constitutional provisions.” Referring to the “creamy layer” prevalent in the reservation scheme, it said that the benefits of reservation only reaches a few. “Therefore, those who have already availed the benefits of reservation should be placed at the end of the queue.”
