Having lost two consecutive general elections in 2014 (leading the coalition United Progressive Alliance) and in 2019 (without any alliance), the Congress party is part of the mega alliance INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The INDIA bloc has no constituent party as its leader. In releasing its Nyay Patra (a document of justice) on April 5, the Congress takes a lead over most contestants. The name is as much a strong message given the decade-long smug BJP rule, as the 45-page manifesto intends to disseminate its intent to the electorate.
Derived from the Latin word manifestum (clear or conspicuous), manifestoes are the public declaration of the policies and aims of a political party participating in an election. The 17 general elections and many more elections to state Legislative Assemblies during the 75 years of electoral politics in India have witnessed innumerable manifestoes by the contesting parties, whether implemented or not.
However, they are both significant and irrelevant aspects of the 2024 general election, which is as momentous as the 1977 one. The INDIA bloc is pitching on the removal of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance from power due to “whimsical policies, narcissistic hegemony, communal avowal as well as violence against the minorities and the fear factor against any dissent”.
The NDA is banking largely on Modi’s magic and Ram Mandir glory while serving the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir as a dessert. Modi downwards each BJP leader is reinforcing Hindutva, which otherises the Muslims. Manifestoes outlive elections, even though soon after elections power game takes over. The BJP’s manifesto titled Sankalpa Patra is a personalised ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, with the programmes of a decade-long rule listed.
The Nyay Patra
The Congress’s promise of ten forms of justice has appeal: “We promise you greater freedom, faster growth, more equitable development and justice for all. We appeal to you to vote for the ‘Hand’ symbol and for the candidates of the Indian National Congress.” Tagore’s memorable lines reinforce this, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. Where knowledge is free….”
Let us critically ask if this rational document can hold sway over an India successfully painted saffron in the past decade by the Modi-led BJP. Instead of offering any constructive programme, the BJP is reinforcing its assertions of Hindutva in every possible way to ultimately achieve its utopia of ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
Also read: Congress Party Manifesto Draws a Roadmap to an India Free From Fear
The ten heads on which the ‘Nyay Patra’ (NP) organises its programme and promises are equity, youth, women, farmers, workers, defending of the constitution, economy, federalism, national security and environment, each divided into several sections picking up programmes under them. As the Nyay Patra foregrounds Nayay (justice), it pleads the voters to ask two questions: “Is your life better today than what it was in 2014”, and “Is your mind without fear as dreamed by Rabindranath Tagore?”
The Congress has been criticised since the time of Rajiv Gandhi for its ‘soft Hindutva’. For P.V. Narasimha Rao ‘soft Hindutva’ was walking on razor’s edge. While the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) kept off from it during its 10-year rule, the Congress since 2014 has been poorly and incompetently aping Hindutva. Under the circumstances, the latest manifesto comes as a breath of fresh air. Not only has it dumped any variant of Hindutva, but there is no hint of following any such path.
In 1936, as Congress president Jawaharlal Nehru pushed for a Constituent Assembly, its core promise ‘Defending the Constitution’, should have opened the Nyay Patra. However, laudably, the Congress goes beyond reinforcing the Nehruvian constitutional push 88 years later, for it promises a contemporary Press Council Act, to equip media to save democracy from governmental incursions and fake news. It also promises far-reaching judicial reforms aiming for the independence of the triumvirate of governance. Yet, an indicative roadmap to de-politicise it with enhanced efficiency for the lower judiciary would have been reassuring and reinforcing.
Nehru took pride in the Congress governments in the provinces, making basic and higher education a priority and affordable for the common man, and launching good adult literacy programmes. The section on jobs and education under the youth section takes care of the contemporary persisting ills in education at different levels in India. The task in this sector for any government trying to bring a rationalised change will be extremely difficult given the inroads the Sangh parivar has made and the not-so-competent people they have planted. It is the school education that needs emergent innovation and energy, without which no sector of higher education can develop. The promise of eradicating favouritism on any ground must be stressed. The link between education and job is well-stated.
Nehru attempted in 1936 to evolve an agrarian programme for the party and the provincial governments it led. He attempted to balance the agriculture and industrial sectors. The Nyay Patra pays attention to the agriculture sector while promising a number of policy interventions to the farmers. The declarations on MSP, permanent bodies for finance and costs and prices and of innovation and new avenues will be the party’s strong points.
Thus, having lost its ideological moorings, the Congress has ably created a manifesto as the testament of justice for the people, it must search for its ideological moorings at its source, and Nehru among other past towering leaders provided the party with the original source.
The beginning of its Nyay Patra with equity, consisting of social justice, religious and linguistic minorities among others, with a number of well-articulated policy initiatives is laudable. It promises caste census and a ‘Diversity Commission’ [this writer was a member of the Working Group on Diversity Commission], while the first has emanated from Bihar and India’s political platter, the second stemmed from the Sachar Committee. The Sachar Report recommended it along with equal Opportunity Commission where equal opportunity for each citizen in India’s diversity spectrum is equally placed for benefits in a manner that reservations become futile.
Federalism has been under severe strain in every field during the decade-long Modi government. The distribution of resources as recommended by the Finance Commissions has been tied to what Modi describes as ‘double-engine sarkar’ (BJP/NDA government at both levels). Promises of taking into account ‘demographic performance and tax efforts in determining the shares of states in devolution of central tax revenue’ and devolution ‘directly to panchayats and municipalities’ appear well-thought-out measures. The rationalization of the Seventh Schedule is a well-considered suggestion. But delicate issues of statehood of Delhi and Ladakh have been spared.
The abolition of the irregular Agnipath Scheme and opaqueness on chief of defence staff must be reviewed by a future government. However, internal security doctrine as articulated by the Punchhi Commission, a gamut of measures for police reforms and hurriedly framed and passed three sanhitas needed space and promises from the Congress.
Conclusion
The Congress’s Nyay Patra emerges from a circumspect party, which is making efforts to come out of the sidelines of Indian politics, where it has been pushed due to its own institutional and organisational weaknesses and the changing nature of India’s competitive party politics. Whatever the results of the 2024 elections, the party must address each aspect of its organisational and institutional issues to remain relevant and prominent in Indian politics.
Ajay K Mehra is a political scientist. He was Atal Bihari Vajpayee Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, 2019-21 and Principal, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Evening College, Delhi University (2018).
