For Congress, economic reforms and social justice go hand in hand

It is a crying shame that despite having a liberalist agenda, the Congress is forced to douse the fire of lies and contrived propaganda by the BJP

The Congress’ election manifesto is a hotly debated election topic with the party firefighting the daily allegations against it. Has its 48-page Nyay Patra exposed the ideological contradictions of its economic policy, or has it carefully crafted an agenda of future governance, using ‘Nyay’ (justice) as its theme?

After the first phase of polling on April 19, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) concocted outrageous claims regarding the Congress’ manifesto, and leading this attack was Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Indian Overseas Congress Chairman Sam Pitroda’s comments on inheritance tax amplified this attack.

The aim of this article is not to dissect a widely covered and discussed political controversy, but to examine whether the Congress has veered away from the agenda of liberal economic reforms and taken a more leftward turn as is being alleged by the BJP.

A new template

The Congress manifesto’s thrust on Nyay (social justice) is reflected in its focus on the caste census, and breaking the 50 per cent threshold for reservation and Mandal politics. That said, through the manifesto, the Congress tries to carefully construct an agenda for the second round of economic reforms. It has woefully failed to convey this to the electorate thus far, and the BJP is capitalising on this failure.

The pledge to implement a socio-economic caste census has been the central talking point of the Congress’ politics for over a year now. Fundamentally, there is no harm in a caste census, because the last OBC census was conducted n 1931, and the Mandal Commission estimated the OBC population at 52 per cent, which in today’s scenario if counted, would be higher in numbers.

Given that the Modi-led government has not conducted the decennial Census 2021, it is important to have basic data for policymaking. This entire narrative of ‘Ginti Karo’ and ‘Hissedari Nyay’ through increasing reservation in the form of affirmative action, beyond 50 per cent, has also created a new template of politics to counter the BJP’s religion-based politics. That is the reason why the BJP is spinning it to create anxiety among its key vote base — the affluent and the middle class.

The flip side is that this narrative of Mandal politics and social justice has eclipsed the agenda of economic reforms mentioned in the Congress manifesto. A detailed reading of the Congress manifesto tells us that it has proposed at least 50 measures of such economic reforms which are not only progressive but are also missing from the BJP manifesto — a party which boasts of making India ‘Viksit’ by 2047. 

Wealth creation, and farm reforms

The Congress manifesto focuses on wealth creation and promises to design laws that will facilitate the ‘production of goods and services in larger volumes and higher values.’ It talks about reviewing laws that inhibit free and fair trade and about doubling the GDP in 10 years. It neither talks about redistribution of wealth nor inheritance tax. The only mention of ‘inheritance’ is for providing equal rights to property to women. The grand old party’s manifesto promises to support every enterprise in its endeavour to create jobs and the freedom to sell anywhere. 

The Congress has incorporated a series of farm reform proposals, and is unlike the BJP which has shied away from this topic, having lost political capital after the farmer protests where the  Union government was forced to roll back its three controversial farm laws. The Congress manifesto falls short of abolishing the APMC Act, but it proposes incremental agricultural reforms, including a sound export-import policy of farm produce — which is a contentious issue skipped by the BJP. 

A new economic policy

The Congress manifesto promises to raise the share of manufacturing from ‘14 per cent to 20 per cent of GDP in the next five years.’ It also promises to ‘introduce reforms in industrial and labour laws to restore the balance between labour and capital to meet our twin goals of full employment and high productivity gains’. 

Emphasising that it steered the 1991 liberalisation, the Congress bats for an open, free, and competitive economy with regulatory oversight by proposing a ‘Nav Sankalp Economic Policy’, which gives priority to ‘jobs’. Interestingly, unlike the BJP, the Congress proposes to ‘create a new employment-linked incentive (ELI) Scheme for corporates to win tax credits for additional hiring against regular, quality jobs.’ — a need of the hour to solve the growing issue of rampant unemployment. 

Under the rhetoric of caste-based politics of reservation and affirmative Mandal-driven action, the Congress conveniently plugs its economic agenda, which is progressive, reform-oriented, free-market driven and liberal. It is a crying shame that despite having such a liberalist agenda, the principal opposition is forced to douse the fire of lies and contrived propaganda. 

(Rachit Seth is Founder, Policy Briefcase, and is a policy analyst with the Indian National Congress. The views expressed are personal. Twitter - @rachitseth)