The Supreme Court recently called for introspection in the context of political parties’ “freebies” promise, often on the eve of elections to State Assemblies or to Parliament. The debate in court was robust. With the Prime Minister publicly mocking the prevalence of “revdi” culture, the government in the Supreme Court urged it to set up a committee for eliciting the possible way forward. It was quite apparent that the government was worried about Kejriwal’s “free electricity and free water” promises paying him rich political dividends. Our Prime Minister cautioned the youth not to be lured by such promises and called for the removal of this “freebie” culture from the country’s politics. This concern may be genuine, but the Prime Minister’s posture was hypocritical.
Perhaps the Prime Minister forgot that the “revdi” culture that he is openly opposed to was very much part of the BJP culture, considering that a few months ago, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced a 50% reduction in power tariff on agricultural use to directly benefit over 13 lakh users in rural and semi-rural areas. In fact, in the run up to the February 2022 Assembly elections, the BJP promised two crore tablets or smartphones under the Swami Vivekananda Yuva Sashaktikaran Yojana. Also, the President of the BJP announced that free ‘scooties’ will be given to meritorious college girls to empower the women of the state.
The party also promised financial assistance up to Rs 1 lakh for the wedding of girls belonging to poor families. Two free LPG cylinders were assured under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana every Holi and Diwali. Financial aid was also promised to be hiked from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 under the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana. The BJP also declared a free commute in public transport for women passengers above 60 years of age and free electricity to farmers.
Similarly, in October 2021, the Madhya Pradesh government approved a subsidy of over Rs 15,700 crore in power bills for farmers and continued a subsidy of Rs 4,980 crore for domestic electricity consumers for the year 2021–22. Similar benefits of 125 units of free electricity to consumers costing the state exchequer about Rs 250 crore as also waiver of water bills in rural areas were announced by the Himachal Pradesh government in April 2022. It also announced a 50% discount in travel fares of state buses and financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per month to all women aged between 18 and 60 years.
Ahead of the Manipur Assembly elections, the BJP promised Rs 25,000 to girls from economically weaker sections under the ‘Rani Gaidinliu Nupi Maheiroi Singi Scheme’ and to increase the monthly pension for senior citizens from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000, if voted back to power.
How do such public announcements match with the “revdi” culture that the Prime Minister now talks about? Obviously, the Prime Minister is not opposed to the “revdi” culture for he embraces it wherever the BJP is in power, be it in Uttarakhand, Manipur or for that matter, in Gujarat. The BJP also embraced this culture during the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections. How does the Prime Minister also justify the reduction in corporate tax from 30% to 22% for domestic companies that did not avail themselves of tax incentives or exemptions and a reduction to 15% from 25% for new manufacturing companies, which was announced by the Government in 2019, resulting in a giveaway of Rs 1.4 lakh crore of possible tax collection?
The problem is that, in a society seeped in poverty, many of the subsidies offered may well be consistent with the goals set out in the Directive Principles of State Policy, which essentially mandate the government to ensure that the economic resources of the State are so distributed as to subserve the common good. Therefore, they can be rationally justified as essential for the upliftment of the deprived millions.
What promises should be made at the time of the elections cannot be regulated by law because the making of promises is also a part of free speech. Ultimately, it is the elector who must decide who to believe and who not to believe. The outcome of an election determines which political party making such promises enjoys the confidence of the people. It is neither practical nor advisable to allow the Election Commission to regulate this by virtue of the power of the Commission vested in it under Article 324 of the Constitution of India or by including it in the Model Code of Conduct.
A salvo was fired in court through a public interest litigation in the hope that the court might pass some order by which the government can start regulating such “freebies” in the upcoming state elections. Instead, the court referred the matter to a three-judge bench to decide the question of “freebies” and suggest a way forward. I believe the court is not the forum where such matters can be resolved. This debate has both economic and political overtones. It is the responsibility of the government and political parties to resolve such issues. The court must not involve itself in what is essentially a matter that must be resolved politically.
To gain credibility on this issue, the Prime Minister must explain why he did not go public on the so called “revdi” culture issue when BJP governments were making announcements for garnering votes. If not, this may well be regarded as a “political jumla”.
Kapil Sibal
Senior lawyer and member of Rajya Sabha
(Tweets @KapilSibal)