Decoding The Focus of BJP, Congress, NCP, CPI(M), Trinamool and Shiv Sena Through Their Manifestos
This article was originally published on Mumbaivotes.com.
The bulk of the word ‘manifesto’ consists of a word that means evident, present, even undeniable. It is most likely taken from the Latin word, ‘manifestus’, which Trevor Timpson interprets as “clear, public or notorious” . This is entirely befitting of the manifestos of the myriad Indian political parties that contest national elections today — perhaps the latter two words more so than the former.
While a manifesto is certainly not the only determinant of a political party’s worth and validity to rule over any nation, especially a vast, diverse and complex one like India, it is, as the definitions suggest, the most obvious public position that voters can seek out to understand the thought process and priorities of an aspiring government. It is the most accepted baseline against which to judge a party’s performance if they are voted to power.
At the Informed Voter Project, a public charitable initiative committed to ensuring transparent and non-partisan analysis of election issues in service of Indian voters, especially those that live in big cities and may be cut-off from political party discourses, we examined the 2024 manifestos of six major political parties in the fray for seats in the national Parliament.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
A set of seven vetted readers scored each of the six manifestos on six hierarchical counts in descending order starting with the most important criterion, which is diagnostic rigour, or the analytical strength and historical relevance of the problem and promise described, followed by the scope of the promise (geographies, beneficiaries etc), implementation plan, commitment demonstrated through the above and through linguistic choices, and evidence of clear timelines and budgets. The manifestos were anonymised by a separate team to allow each reader to focus only on the textual claims and not be swayed by their prior knowledge and opinions of different parties to the extent possible.
The parties in the mix are Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), Indian National Congress (INC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena and Trinamool Congress. This is what we found:
When it came to agriculture and farmer welfare, it was the promises laid down by the Trinamool Congress that came up trumps. This manifesto had clear references to the shortcomings of the current government (“agriculture’s share in the union budget almost being halved from 4.4% to 2.5% over the past 4 years”) as well as specific solutions to some prevalent issues in this sector.
For example, doubling investment in agricultural research and development from 0.5% of the existing agricultural GDP to at least 1%, composing a market-diversified yet farmer-friendly import-export policy that reviews the ban on wheat, rice and sugar exports,and immediately withdrawing the many cases registered against farmers during the protests in the capital. On the other hand, the manifesto of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) scored low on all six hierarchical counts from diagnostic rigour to clear timelines when it came to farmer issues.
Some of the other sectors in which the manifesto of the Trinamool Congress scored impressively related to health, labour and employment, and law and justice. While the INC as well as the BJP also clocked high scores on issues related to health, INC edged out BJP by scoring in the 88th percentile compared to BJP’s 71st percentile. Trinamool for example states that it intends to increase health expenditure to 6% of GDP, while CPI(M) claims to increase it to 5% followed by the INC promising to commit 4% of total expenditure. The BJP manifesto makes no mention of healthcare expenditure in these terms. Instead, it focuses more on achieving a non-specific increase in medical facilities and seats, along with a similarly general increase in access to generic medicines and other healthcare services. Compared to its own manifesto in 2019, the BJP manifesto for 2024 shies away from committing concrete numbers for many of its promises.
Unemployment and livelihood challenges have been one of the primary concerns across various communities of citizens this election cycle. Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and BJP were the top performing manifestos in that order with a common acknowledgement of social security schemes for unorganised workers, including gig workers and migrant workers. However, there were some important differences such as a clear emphasis on filling up 10 to 25 lakhs of government job vacancies and providing employment guarantees in the Trinamool and CPI(M) manifestos, while the BJP focused more on supporting the ‘start-up’ ecosystem. The manifesto of the INC and NCP also talk about filling “30 lakh” government vacancies. Incidentally, the INC manifesto promises to institute a “Right to Apprenticeship Act” for a year for all diploma holders under the age of 25.
The BJP manifesto scored poorly in the area of law and justice, being rated consistently low across major counts, while the INC fared better, securing the second highest score after Trinamool. The INC manifesto has dedicated sections explaining the legal entitlements and protections owed to various citizen groups that they recognize as SC/ST and OBCs, religious and linguistic minorities, persons with disabilities and LGBTQIA+. It also emphasises the need to ensure press freedom through the Press Council of India Act, and supports the withdrawal of acts tilted towards government censorship such as the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 and Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. While freedom of expression is also mentioned clearly by NCP, there are no specific instances provided, which reduced its scope, and diagnostic rigour.
On gender issues, especially those related to women, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) scored high, coming in third after Trinamool and CPI(M) manifestos by “endeavouring” to achieve 50% reservations for women in government jobs and fast tracking women’s reservations in Parliament. This is echoed by the INC manifesto as well, which additionally promises 33% reservations for women in Lok Sabha elections like Trinamool and CPI(M).
There is a lot more to unpack in every party manifesto. Reading a party’s manifesto for oneself is highly recommended to get a personal sense of the nuances conveyed through linguistic choices and the overall impetus given to issues through prefacing and detailing. It is the beginning, if not the end, of any political party’s performance, and informed voting should ideally include due consideration of party manifestos.
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