Karnataka poll campaign a SOP state of affairs
With elections just a couple of months away, it’s sop season in Karnataka. The Congress led the way, announcing free electricity for up to 200 units and Rs 2,000 for each homemaker. The BJP, too, joined the bandwagon with a similar promise of Rs 2,000 to women householders but scoffed at its rival’s free power pledge. The JDS has catered to its farmer constituency, vowing to waive farm loans. Each party is trying to outdo the other to impress its catchment electorate, as the line blurs between welfare schemes and bribes for votes. Apart from the parties’ official announcements, aspirants are dipping into their goodie bags and giving away mixers, mobiles, stoves, cookers, crockery, saris and festival hampers. The target of this soft approach is women, and parties are bending over backwards to snare their vote.
In promising free power, Congress has taken a page from the Aam Aadmi Party’s rather successful playbook. Since 2014, the AAP government has offered 200 units of electricity free of cost and a 50% subsidy of up to Rs 800 on the consumption of 201 to 400 units per month to all households, besides subsidies on water bills and free bus rides for women. Despite dire predictions, the party has managed to keep its populist schemes afloat in Delhi, and now Punjab, and won landslide victories. The Congress, too, had implemented its own set of ‘Bhagya’ schemes in Karnataka, like Anna Bhagya (free foodgrains), Ksheera Bhagya (milk for children), Arogya Bhagya (free healthcare), Krishi Bhagya (farm loans), Indira Canteens (cheap food), and Shaadi Bhagya (for minority community brides). While these were extremely popular and almost synonymous with former CM Siddaramaiah, they failed to win him another term. Yet, Congress hopes to ride on largesse to reach the winning post.
It is easy for political parties to announce welfare schemes without a thought to the economics of how they will implement them. Economists have warned about the long-term toll on the state’s economy, but parties are confident that their financial spin doctors will come up with the answers. Karnataka’s debt burden now stands at Rs 5.2 lakh crore. While the AAP government followed up on its freebies and put in place good government schools and ‘mohalla clinics’, it remains to be seen if the big two national parties have the wherewithal to do it. In today’s world, meeting people’s aspirations of good education and healthcare is more important than giving away freebies.