CHENNAI: An election manifesto is not a mere ‘pamphlet of promises’. It reflects the ideological roots, changing aspirations of the public and welfare vision of the party, whichever presents it - be it the incumbent or the aspirant.
When the DMK announced its election manifesto before 2006 Assembly elections, it was hailed as the ‘hero of the election’ as it promised free colour TV sets, gas stoves with LPG connections, two acres of land to the landless, etc.
After staying out of power for 10 years and the evident restlessness that is seen in the party and its cadre to stage a political ‘comeback’, the Dravidian major’s manifesto committee is faced with the daunting task of meeting or surpassing its document of 2006, ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls.
An eight-member panel consisting of senior leaders has completed its two phases of the State-wide tour, eliciting public opinions and suggestions for the manifesto and has touched base in 15 districts. Several organisations and interest groups have also reached out to the party to make their demands heard in case the principal Opposition party forms the next government.
The party has formally collected suggestions from a host of respondents like Dalits, minority communities and legal groups, as well as from informal networks such as the Facebook community “We Dravidians”, which prepared a list of demands, taking assistance from experts, and handed over the list to former Union Minister A Raja, a member of the manifesto framing panel.
Similarly, PK Arulmoli, a former government pleader from Coimbatore, submitted a list of demands from the legal fraternity when the panel visited Coimbatore. Some of them were: a pension of Rs 5,000 for advocates with 25 years of experience and aged over 65, toll-free travel for advocates’ vehicles, an interest-free loan of `5 lakh to establish an office and to procure books, maternity assistance of Rs 5,000 for six months for women advocates, etc.
Formula for caste harmony
Recently, a section of the Dalit community, led by retired additional chief secretary Christodas Gandhi submitted some suggestions to DMK President MK Stalin. They pitched a scheme to promote caste harmony between Dalits and caste Hindus by building habitats in a 50:50 ratio for the two groups in 100 places, party postings for SC members at the district-level in proportion to population, renaming ‘scheduled caste’ to ‘equitable class’, increasing SC reservation to 20.01 per cent as per the 2011 census, filling of ST posts only with members of tribal communities, and filling all forest department postings with tribal community members.
They also recommended that the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department be rechristened as Equitable Department (Department of Equality). Various Christians organisations have also met with Stalin and handed over their demands.
As part of DMK’s scheduled 100-day campaign of frontline leaders, more consultations will be done with the members of public, experts, journalists to create a winning manifesto and to set the agenda of the next government. It is also going to be manifestos taking on manifestos this election.
Won’t demand high number of seats: Congress
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K S Alagiri said the party neither accept a low number of seats nor ask for a high number seats from DMK for Assembly election 2021.
Speaking at the party’s ‘Yerkalappai Yatra’ (Rally to protect farmers) at Karumathampatti on Sunday, he spoke about the dissent within Congress. “Dissent on Bihar election defeat is coming out from our party now.
It is not the right time to raise dissent in the name of self-criticism on a public forum. It should be dealt within the party. Don’t you feel shame for criticising our party and not BJP at this crucial time?” he asked.