RICE STAPLE FOR BJP TOO

By M H Ahssan

Main opposition party, that till recently maintained that economic populism is anti-welfare, is going all out on populist announcements in its manifesto

Jettisoning its reticence to populism, BJP’s manifesto for the ensuing electoral battle will better Congress poll pledge and offer rice at Rs 2 per kg to BPL families across the country. BJP, which till not so long ago maintained that economic populism is anti-welfarism, has decided to go whole hog to make a dent in Congress’ aam admi plank.

The rice offer had paid handsome dividends to BJP in the just-held assembly polls in Chhattisgarh. With women comprising half of the electorate, the party is also likely to have a special package for the girl child. This will include extending the Madhya Pradesh government’s “Ladli Laxmi Yojana’’ to the rest of the country for encouraging girl students to pursue education at least up to the high school level.

The Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh had on April 1, 2007, with much fanfare launched the scheme to sell rice at Rs 3 per kg to all 34 lakh BPL families in the state. By ensuring a corruption-free delivery system, the state government won the hearts of the people. Overwhelmed by the goodwill generated by the programme, BJP, in its manifesto for the assembly election held in 2008, promised to bring down the price of rice to Rs 2 per kg for BPL families, and at Re one per kg for all antyodaya cardholders.

The success of the scheme was seen as one of the factors behind the saffron party’s victory for the second consecutive time in the state. The party, if voted to power in the general election, wants to extend it to rest of the country, even if it meant causing a huge burden on the state exchequer.

The party would also like to replicate the Ladli Laxmi Yojana, being successfully executed by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh, in the other states. If BJP was voted back to power in the state in late 2008, the pro-women welfare schemes unveiled by the chief minister after taking over the reins of the state three years ago, played a big role. The Ladli Laxmi Yojana was one of the prominent success stories, and it so moved the party’s prime ministerial candidate, L K Advani, that he was constrained to eulogise it in his personal blog.

“The principal aim of the scheme is to eliminate dropout rate among girl students and to encourage them to study at least upto the pre-college level. Under the scheme, the state government buys savings certificates of Rs 6,000 each year for five consecutive years for every girl born into a family. The girl gets Rs 2,000 after she completes the 5th standard, another Rs 4,000 after she completes the 8th standard, Rs 7,500 after she completes the 10th standard; Rs 200 per month in her 11th standard; and a lumpsum amount of Rs 1,18,000 after she enters the 12th standard or, alternatively, attains the age of 18,’’ Mr Advani noted in his blog.

“It is my promise that, if elected to form the next government, the NDA will implement the Ladli Laxmi Yojana in every state. It will be our endeavour to make every girl in India a “Lakhpati” by the time she attains maturity and is ready to enter a new phase of her life. As far as the girl child is concerned, her care cannot be the responsibility of her parents alone. It is equally the responsibility of the government,’’ the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate vowed.

The party’s election manifesto, likely to be unveiled in the next few days, is also expected to weave in issues aimed at keeping its core Hindutva constituency in good humour. In keeping with this, BJP is expected to reiterate its principled opposition to religion-based quota being advocated by the Congress-led UPA.

Congress’ stand on terrorism is also expected to come in for a severe rap in the manifesto. The principle ruling party at the Centre, BJP maintains, has skirted the nub of the issue, i.e., cross-border terrorism, and has also remained silent on infiltration from across the Pakistani and Bangladeshi borders.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi led the party’s attack against the Congress on the issue. ``In their manifesto, no importance has been attached to national security issues. Congress is completely silent on how to fight terrorism, how to protect the country from naxalism and how to rid the country of insurgency,’’ he told newspersons in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. “Congress attaches no importance to the country’s security, the security of ordinary citizens. For them, the only thing important is votebank politics,’’ Mr Modi added.

With senior citizens emerging as an important category, the BJP manifesto is likely to outline a series of measures for their welfare, especially as their investments had been hit hard in the current round of economic downturn.

BJP, while backing the NREGS, is expected to suggest measures to plug the loopholes in the scheme’s delivery system, which have exposed the CAG in its audit report.

The party is also expected to censure the Congress-led UPA government’s failure to prevent job cuts. As many as 1.5 crore jobs had been lost in the last five years because of the ``faulty’’ policies pursued by the Centre, and the party is likely to propose a hefty increase in spending on large infrastructure projects so as to be able to create more jobs.

The party has already launched its IT vision, promising to extend the revolution to every nook and corner of the country.

MORE POPULISM
- The following are the likely highlights of BJP’s manifesto:
- Rice/wheat at Rs 2 per kg to BPL families
- To protect domestic industry from cheap imports
- Welfare scheme for girl child on the lines of MP's Ladli Laxmi Yojana
- Reiteration of Hindutva issues
- Opposition to religion-based quota
- Highlighting of cross-border terrorism and infiltration from Bangladesh
- Welfare measures for senior citizens following economic downturn
- Criticism of UPA for ‘inability’ to prevent job cuts
- IT vision, Promise to extend IT revolution to every part of the country