Who’s interested in manifestos, anyway?

Hari S Kartha

Election manifestos lately seem to matter little to people in Kerala. This is in spite of the state’s much-trumpeted total literacy and high level of political consciousness. Keralites may skip their breakfast, but catch them missing a chance to scan the day’s newspapers. Their focus is always on political developments in the state as well as the country. And, as Chinese leader Mao Tse Tung once said, whether you like it or not, politics is in command everywhere. Nonetheless, the release of election manifestos has become a ritual. But they seldom attract the attention they deserve.

With assembly elections in Kerala scheduled for May 10, rival political fronts are busy. The choice of candidates, allocation of constituencies and division of seats has been no easy task, both for the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) or the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).

In Kerala, the Left and its allies, whether in power or out of it, have always had an upper hand in the pre-election paraphernalia. They book and paint the walls in advance. They are the first to start campaigning. They are also the first to finalise seat-sharing, and their final list of candidates is released much ahead of the UDF. This time, too, the LDF has been first with everything. Both the Congress-led UDF and the BJP are yet to finalise their candidates. In releasing the election manifesto, too, the LDF’s manifesto was ready much before the others, but for some reason was held back for formal release.

“What’s there in a manifesto,” says a Congress leader. “It is the strategy that matters”. “Elections have ceased to be fought on the basis of ideologies,” pointed out a BJP spokesman. “The common man has a cynical view of the whole exercise. Majority of the promises and assurances in manifestos during the previous elections are still on paper,” he says. So, why bother about such paper tigers? he adds.

Interestingly, only the media seems to be bothered about manifestos because they get material for writing stories. This time, journalists in Thiruvananthapuram managed to get a copy of the LDF manifesto much ahead of its formal release. The manifesto did hit the headlines in a section of the local print and visual media. Then came a denial from the AK Gopalan Centre, the CPI(M)’s state headquarters. The party clarified that the manifesto was yet to be finalised and that whatever had been published in newspapers was the imaginative work of certain mischievous mediamen. The party leadership also smelt a conspiracy behind “the leak of the manifesto”.

After about a week or so, the manifesto was formally launched. This time, it did not get the desired media coverage either. Reason—it was old wine in new bottle.

The LDF manifesto, however, did reaffirm one thing—the LDF is no longer allergic to computerisation or corporatisation. Information technology (IT) has a role to play in the state’s development. The only way out for the state’s millions of unemployed, asserts the manifesto, is IT. Ironically, manifestos have ceased to be of any importance once they are released.