The most heartening aspect of this year's Congress election manifesto is that socialist rhetoric and spurious populism have been finally given a go by. In staking its claim to lead India for the next five years, the Congress has packaged itself as an uncompromising champion of the free market.That in itself is an advance from the days when even liberalisation was tempered by the reckless use of discretionary powers - a phenomenon that contributed directly to the rampant corruption witnessed during the government of P.V. Narasimha Rao. But it is only a hesitant step forward. The Congress manifesto remains woefully short on commitments to reducing wasteful government expenditure, trimming public sector fat and dispensing with India's formidable array of bureaucratic controls. As such, the manifesto reflects an adroit compromise between those who see the Congress as a rejuvenated mechanism for economic reforms and those who are most at ease with the old, discredited licence-permit-quota raj, laced with gratuitous concern for the underprivileged.The reason for this ambiguity is apparent. From the tone of the manifesto, it is clear that the Congress does not believe it will win the 1998 election outright. Stability, says the manifesto, "comes not just from numbers". .preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}The battle, it adds, is "not for forming a government" but for "running a government". This is an explicit recognition that the manifesto is not a set of promises to the people but a base document for the formulation of another post-election Common Minimum Programme. Hence the contrived genuflection at the altar of arthik swaraj (economic freedom) and garib ka raj (government of the poor) - slogans calculated to appeal to sections of the United Front.Manifestos were always regarded as trivial pursuits in the election game. In today's age of coalitions they have acquired an added dimension - as instruments of futures trading.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Feb 2, 1998--- ENDS ---
