Something for everyone

The Congress clearly sees unemployment as the BJP's Achilles heel on the economic front. And communalism as the point on which to strike politically.

The 'back to basics' manifesto that was released on Monday emphasises these two points more than anything else, and so the message is clear. Then, in order to counter the 'feel-good' factor for which the BJP has claimed credit, the manifesto stresses the Congress legacy and lays claim to everything from the highway development programme to the development of nuclear and satellite technology, while rubbishing the Vajpayee government's record on economic growth.

As a story to push at election time, it isn't a bad effort, and is a more intelligent exercise than the 'feel-bad' advertising campaign with which it kicked off its election drive. But in promising something for everyone, the document loses the clear thrust that helps to define the issues in an election campaign. 'Back to basics' simply does not have the high promise of 'Garibi hatao' or the force of saying 'Elect a government that works'.

The other question, of course, is how credible the promises are. The central issue that strikes the disinterested observer is that a lot of the promises continue to depend on government programmes when everyone knows that the primary problem here is the near-collapse of governance in many states on many fronts; so the doctor first has to heal himself, but nothing in the manifesto says how this will be done. There isn't enough stress on how the process of economic reform will be pushed forward, nor much conviction in the growth numbers that the manifesto projects.

Indeed, while there are references to the middle- class and to the needs of industry, this is clearly not a document aimed at them. Instead, in talking of possible job reservations in the private sector, it is trying to reach out to the party's lost support base of dalits and tribals. In talking of work guarantees, it is reaching out to the unemployed. As the party of inclusiveness, it is trying to reach out more to the losers than the winners. That is a legitimate position to adopt, but this is more proof that today's Congress under Sonia Gandhi is more in tune with the political thrust of Indira Gandhi, with some adaptation for contemporary realities.

In some ways, the party seeks to take the country back to the '70s, when the (benevolent) government pulled a lever here, pushed a control there, and got the desired results. So, the employment problem is to be fixed not through labour reforms that make it easier for firms to invest, but by 'fiscal incentives to promote employment-intensive growth'; infrastructure development is to be done not through reforms in pricing of sectors like power, but by using 'foreign exchange reserves creatively' to 'add at least 6000-8000 MW of generating capacity every year' "" never mind that the power sector loses around Rs 33,000 crore annually.

Similarly, while the market is to be trusted to help farmers achieve higher renumeration for their produce, the market is not to be fully trusted and 'the terms of trade will always be maintained in favour of agriculture'.

The more things change....