Maharashtra polls: Did Sena-BJP fulfil 2014 manifesto promises?

The BJP’s manifesto, Drushtipatra (The Vision Document), was prepared after holding 36 meetings across the state and inviting suggestions from people.The BJP’s ally Shiv Sena has been the ruling partner in the five-year term of the state government, although both the parties had contested the polls separately

A promise of corruption-free government, with criticism of the then Congress-NCP government for compelling the state to borrow from the market to pay salaries of employees and advertisement bills of its achievements – these were the highlights of the 25-page manifesto released by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections. Its ally, Shiv Sena, too, had made a slew of promises.

Assembly elections would be taking place in Maharashtra on 21st October. (HT File Photo)

Five years on, how many of the promises made by the BJP-Shiv Sena government have been fulfilled?

The Manifestos

The BJP’s manifesto, Drushtipatra (The Vision Document), was prepared after holding 36 meetings across the state and inviting suggestions from people. It promised recruitment of police force and its modernisation, reduction in women-related crimes, improvement of revenue receipts to reduce debt burden, reduction in prices of petrol and diesel, double-digit growth of agriculture sector, pension and insurance for farmers, loan on the basis of land owned by farmers, introduction of second shift in courts to reduce pendency, dharmashalas at all state transport depots, freeing up of footpaths from encroachments, pension for housewives after 60 years of age, among others. The party’s strength went up to 122 in 2014 from 46 in 2009. After emerging the single-largest party in the state, the BJP-led government faced many challenges, from drought to protests for reservations by various communities.

The BJP’s long-standing ally Shiv Sena has been the ruling partner in the five-year term of the state government, although both the parties had contested the polls separately. The Shiv Sena, too, had promised sops for a cross-section of voters, through its separate manifesto called Vachannama (Document of commitments). The party, which won 63 seats from 44 in 2009, had promised a theme park at Mahalaxmi racecourse, water transport on Mumbai’s eastern and western coast, elevated rail corridor between Churchgate and Virar, rail line along the MTHL, slum rehabilitation, 3,500 services centres for various end-user services, enactment of the law to curb donations in educational institutes, renaming of Girgaum Chowpatty as Swaraj Bhoomi in the memory of Lokmanya Tilak, among others.

The Performance

The government ruled by the two parties has delivered on several of its promises, but failed to even touch upon many. The foremost failure was its inability to achieve the two-digit agriculture growth. It has been 0.4% in 2018-19 from 3.1% the previous year. Although the continuous drought in parts of the state played a hurdle in achieving the goal, the government has not been able to create confidence among voters about assured price for their produce and reduction in input cost. The rate of farmer suicides has increased at least one-and-a-half times compared to the previous five years. Similarly, the BJP’s promise to reduce the debt burden (from ₹3 lakh crore when it took over in 2014) on the state exchequer has remained unfulfilled. The burden has reached ₹4.71 lakh crore, compelling it to cut short its outlay for various departments to keep the debt within control.

The government, according to observers, has delivered when it comes to building urban and rural infrastructure, but has failed to take strict action against those involved in scams. “The laying of Metro network in key cities, CCTV network in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and time-bound planning for completion of irrigation projects are the achievements of this government. At the same time, the probe in the alleged irrigation scam is heading nowhere. Except Eknath Khadse, all ministers in the incumbent government got a clean chit over the past five years,” said an IAS officer, who retired recently.

Madhav Bhandari, BJP spokesperson and convenor of manifesto committee, said, “We have taken stock and found most of the promises have been fulfilled. We are coming out with a report on it. We could not achieve the double-digit growth in agriculture sector due to drought, while Shivaji memorial has been stuck owing to court order. Action in corruption cases is at various levels of investigation.”

“I think overall we have performed fairly on all fronts. Many of the projects have been conceptualised, although not completed within the promised time. Construction of coastal road has begun and all permissions for the Shivaji statue are in place, although both the projects have been stalled owing to court orders. The Centre has given reservation to the economically weak, while the state took an unprecedented step of reservation to the Maratha community,” said Neelam Gorhe, Shiv Sena spokesperson and deputy chairman of the legislative council.

Gorhe said although it was a coalition government, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray played a key role in many decisions, including compensation to the urban local bodies in goods and services tax regime and waiver of property tax to small flat owners in Mumbai.

The Analysis

Political analyst Hemant Desai said, “It appears that neither the political parties nor voters take the manifesto seriously. Voting is not done on issues in the manifesto or its compliance. Voters are more concerned about the schemes of direct benefit to them. Many promises made by the ruling parties were not fulfilled, but they would not be held responsible for it. The BJP and Shiv Sena spoke about the action against corrupt ministers from the previous government, but their own ministers faced corruption charges and probes. The Sena first opposed the Samruddhi expressway, but later supported it for some ‘obvious’ reasons,” he said.

Medha Kulkarni, founder trustee of Sampark, an NGO, said the ruling parties should release their performance report after five years of releasing the manifesto. “During our recent meetings, we brought to the notice of the BJP leaders that promises related to women and child welfare have not been fulfilled. The government did not even frame rules for the child policy brought by the previous government. Many promises remained unfulfilled which are indicated by figures related to the unemployment rate, farmers suicides, etc. The BJP should now come out with a Krutipatra (action taken report) stating the compliance of their Drushtipatra in the past five years.”

“Nothing has been done on the promise of Dabbewala Bhavan, scholarships to our kids, health services at hospitals or funding to buy bicycles,” said Subhash Talekar,

president, Mumbai Dabbewala Association.