Every political party worth its salt is making tall pre-election promises especially to the core constituents – the poor – who are easily influenced by such promises and don’t have the wherewithal to understand the nitty gritty of linking the promises to resources available. Researchers in this country have systematically tested whether governments at the state and Centre ignore their own campaign promises. It is imperative to answer this question because the fulfilment of election promises is at the heart of democratic accountability. Their studies find that most promises remained unfulfilled. Naturally citizens expect that the party/parties that win and form the government would mobilize the resources necessary to fulfil the mandate on which they were elected and on which they will also be judged. Too often these promises are a one-off distribution of freebies which do not have a long-term impact. Keeping this in mind it would be expected that political parties and candidates would not make promises they cannot keep. But that’s asking for too much
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) promised free electricity in Punjab among other things. The State already has a huge debt burden so its incomprehensible how Punjab will mobilise resources to underwrite the electricity bills especially of farmers. AAP did the same in Gujarat but it appears that the people of Gujarat look for more than just freebies. Ultimately PM Modi’s rhetoric won the day. To turn a promise into a deliverable, those in Government must initiate policies around the issues that they believe need addressing and find the resources via those policy/policies.TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s two-day visit has seen a slew of promises. Her meeting with the widows/relatives of those five men killed at Mukroh on November 22 last saw her giving a cash assistance of Rs 5 lakhs each to their widows. She even stated upfront that in such circumstances her government gives both financial assistance and a government job for a family member of the victim. It is possible that another political party will up the TMC promise and say it will do more. Where will all this end?
Poll promises must be realistic and must be made keeping in mind the state’s internal resources and external borrowings. In Meghalaya, poll promises are populist in nature and are not designed to serve a long-term purpose. No wonder the socio-economic indicators are all going south, despite the flurry of freebies being distributed by the MDA Government just before the elections. People of Meghalaya must learn to judge each political party from the prism of pragmatism. Money is not free. Poverty is real and poverty at 37% in Meghalaya must be viewed with seriousness. Poverty cannot be alleviated by giving freebies. A robust economic policy that takes on board the needs of different economic constituents is more pragmatic. One shoe does not fit all.