Promises, promises…

When the voter in Tamil Nadu is flooded with competitive promises of freebies, more than anything, the famous quote of Mr H.L. Mencken , an American journalist (1880-1956) that ‘elections are advance auctions of stolen goods' appears almost axiomatic. If one alliance assures that it will give mixer or grinder the other party pledges a ceiling fan and, curiously four goats in addition.

From its moral perch, The Forum for Electoral Integrity, an NGO in Chennai, has condemned such promises of freebies outright as bribery by the political parties. It is a different matter that most of the signatories to this public reproach of political parties will never compete in an election, let alone aim to win. Given the psyche of political parties and the aspirations of an increasingly materialistic society, this will be a Herculean task for anyone, including the Election Commission, to get rid of.Although, prima facie , these acts appear reprehensible, in real politics for an ordinary voter in, say, Karivalamvandanallur, the two main antagonists — the DMK-led alliance and the AIADMK-led alliance - are as different from each other as cheese and cheese. At least different smorgasbords of discounts, concessions, rebates and free products and services differentiating the parties help the voter to make an informed choice.

Fading appeal

Not long ago voters could be mobilised around emotive issues such as anti-Hindi, anti-Brahmin , anti–North Indians, or for that matter Anti-Outsiders or on the basis of caste and religion etc. Even if such sentiments exist today, they have been buried under layers of economic necessities and middle class aspirations. In Tamil Nadu, the people have transcended, so it seems, parochial affinities and are shifting their sights to look to tangible economic benefits, at different levels of both basic necessities and increasing aspiration. Therefore, elections are times when politicians have to promise something more in terms of showing that the poor are, in fact, getting promoted to the middle class. As Mr Mani Shankar Iyer once said, “Masses vote and classes rule”. Tax-paying rich citizens can influence policies in their favour and reap benefits whichever government rules, but the poor people get a chance only once in a quinquinium.

Promises such as more roads and flyovers may warm the cockles of contractors, but nobody thanks the party in government for replacing the unmanned railway crossing by an overbridge, even though it saves lives. Political parties are convinced that giving away free something at a personal level is like reaching out to each individual voter.

Even if election manifesto makes lofty promises such as it would create 1,00,000 jobs in the next five years , the voter cannot help feeling that it sounds hollow and is convinced that he would not be able to hold the same party to account if it fails to create jobs. On the other hand, if it says that one able-bodied man in each household will be given a government job, it would set the Cauvery on fire.

In this context, how can one find fault with the promise of a free laptop for a student when we lauded the aim of the OLPC by the famous MIT academic Mr Negroponte to provide One Laptop Per Child in the developing world at $100. If students and therefore their parents can be pleased with computers for free, surely one cannot grudge an average housewife being lifted out of the drudgery of grinding dough for breakfast day in and day out with a wet grinder. Only Luddites and male chauvinists will be opposed to this important step of empowering women.

(The author is a former Member, Ordnance Factories Board)

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