Politically Fit with Shehzad Poonawalla: Comparison between manifestos of BJP, Congress

Apr 13, 2019, 2:12 PM IST

In this episode of Politically Fit, Congress rebel Shehzad Poonawalla begins a new chapter where, while explaining what constitute "superset exercises", he deals with the content of the manifestos of the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress dispassionately.

Poonawalla mentions how the two parties address the same set of issues differently. For example, while the Congress promises jobs in terms of numbers, the BJP talks of developing sectors that would deliver the jobs.

While the Congress has the NYAY scheme as the overarching phenomenon, where Rs 72,000 has been promised per annum to the poorest Indians, the BJP promises to double farmers' income by 2022, the 75th year of India's independence.

Explaining exercises that build one's biceps, triceps and the back, Poonawalla says that nationalism is the dominant theme in the BJP manifesto, promising the armed forces a free hand to tackle terrorism and pledging before the people, like before that Article 370 and Article 35A, which discriminate between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country, will be abrogated. The Congress manifesto, he says, is high on liberty like the promise to review the AFSPA that empowers the security forces in insurgency-prone areas and that to hold talks with separatists and, possibly, also terrorists.