New Delhi: Harp on the party’s pet issue of national security and drill in the “delivery versus promise” narrative — that’s how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans to counter its rival Congress’s manifesto.
Highly placed sources in the party said based on “quick internal discussions” after the main opposition party’s manifesto release Tuesday, the BJP has decided to step up the “national security rhetoric” to question the “Congress’ credibility and strategy on that front”.
The BJP will also look to highlight the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s five-year performance on the welfare front as against the Congress’s mere promises. It also plans to talk about the “political will” displayed in just five years, for what it calls “difficult decisions”, versus its predecessor regime.
In its manifesto, the Congress has promised a minimum income guarantee scheme ‘NYAY’, a separate budget for farmers, greater spending on education, Right to Healthcare, Goods and Services Tax 2.0, besides promising to scrap the sedition law and increased focus on national security.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his public rally in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh, to lash out at the Congress and its manifesto.
“On one hand, there is a government with the right intentions and on the other, there are the privileged who make false promises. Just like them, their manifesto is corrupt, dishonest and full of deception. This is why it should be called a deception document and not a manifesto,” said Modi.
एक तरफ इरादों वाली सरकार है, दूसरी तरफ सिर्फ और सिर्फ झूठे वादों वाले नामदार हैं।
इन लोगों की तरह ही इनका घोषणा पत्र भी भष्ट होता है, बेइमान होता है, ढकोसलों से भरा होता है।
इसलिए उसे घोषणा पत्र नहीं 'ढकोसला पत्र' कहना चाहिए: प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi #DeshKeLiyeModi pic.twitter.com/W43d1oI6Rb
— BJP (@BJP4India) April 3, 2019
A day earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called the Congress manifesto “dangerous and unimplementable”.
Also read: Kisan budget, media freedom, Right to Healthcare — Congress manifesto reaches out to all
National security pitch
Since the Pulwama terror attack in February and the retaliatory air strikes in Pakistan’s Balakot, the BJP has made national security the core of its political discourse.
The Congress manifesto, too, seeks to address this issue.
“Will ensure defence spending is increased to meet requirements of the Armed Forces; evolve suitable policies to address data security, cyber security, financial security, communication security; rapidly expand domestic capacity to manufacture defence and security equipment,” it says.
The opposition party has promised to repeal the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) currently in force in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Northeast.
A highly placed BJP source who did not wish to be identified said, “We will rake up the promises on defence and national security in their manifesto to poke holes, while stepping up our rhetoric on that front. The Congress has low credibility on that front and zero strategy, especially since they were in power for ten years before we came when serious terror attacks took place and no action was taken.
“We, meanwhile, conducted the surgical strikes as well as Balakot air strikes. We will try to repeat this message,” the source said.
“Their promise to repeal AFSPA, especially at a time when J&K is so sensitive is ill-thought out and dangerous, which is also what we will point out,” the source added.
On welfare
In most of his speeches and interactions so far, PM Modi has made it a point to mention his government’s welfare, pro-poor initiatives — rural housing, Ujjwala, rural electrification, Jan Dhan Yojana and Ayushman Bharat, among others.
Central to the BJP’s pitch is the government’s latest minimum income scheme for farmers and its earlier decision of hiking the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) of crops.
To counter the Congress manifesto, which is full of welfare schemes proposals, the BJP plans to talk about performance as against promise.
“The strategy is clear, we have to highlight the delivery versus promises point. The Congress is only making promises — everything it could have done in the decades it was in power at the Centre, including from 2004-14,” said another party leader, also on the condition of anonymity.
“However, we have delivered in just five years through a range of pro-poor, pro-people schemes. Several of these have a lot of resonance on the ground,” said the second leader, adding the government had also improved United Progressive Alliance schemes like MGNREGA.
Decisive versus dithering
The BJP also feels that by talking about a 2.0 version of GST, the Congress has given it a tool to question its ability to take “difficult decisions”.
“How can they talk about GST 2.0 when they couldn’t even bring GST in the first place. We displayed the political will to take difficult decisions like these. And this is what we have decided to highlight,” said the second source.
However, it isn’t as if the BJP believes the Congress manifesto will have zero electoral impact.
“Of course, some of the manifesto promises may find resonance, which is precisely why we need to counter them and have drawn up a strategy,” the first source added.
Also read: Congress manifesto promises to scrap electoral bonds, amend anti-defection laws