BJP’s election manifesto released

What exactly / precisely , will you do ?

Expected has come to pass
Narendrabhai Modi has been declared as the PM candidate of BJP
On TV channels , experts are offering advice to BJP / NaMo , on how they should conduct themselves PRIOR to 2014 national elections
For the voters , what matters is :
“ If BJP were to be voted to power , how will it conduct itself , AFTER the elections ? After NaMo becomes PM ? “
All that we have been hearing from NaMo and other BJP leaders , over the last one year is :

 Congress is corrupt

 UPA 2 is incompetent

 All of their policies are wrong , leading to price-rise , inflation , economic downturn etc

 They failed to do THIS and THAT

But not a word so far of what exactly / precisely , BJP / NaMo would themselves do , if voted to power !
I certainly don’t mean distribution of free laptops , tablets , mobiles , cycles ! Forget the manifesto !
As a citizen , I would like them to declare NOW , their unambiguous stand on :

 Disallowing “ convicted “ persons from contesting elections

 Bringing political parties within the ambit of RTI

 Appointment of a Lok Ayukt in Gujarat and passing of Jan Lok Pal Bill within 100 days of coming to power

 Make CBI independent of Government

 Passing Women’s Equal Representation Bill, pending for 40 years

 Electoral Reforms incorporating , “ Negative Voting / Right to Recall “

 Passing of Delivery of Services Act

 Bringing out Black Money ( both , foreign and local ) for investment in Infrastructure / Health Services / Education / Housing for the poor etc , thru suitable “ No Questions Asked “ Amnesty Schemes

 Above all ,creating 15 million jobs every year

These are , just a few of the people’s expectations
Are BJP / NaMo willing to treat these as voters’ “ Charter of Demands “ ?
We have had enough of rhetoric oratory
People are asking :

“ Forget what UPA failed to do . We know that
What will YOU do , and WHEN ?

I hope NaMo / Rajnath Singh realize that , in order to win the forthcoming State elections and , thereby pave the road to win the 2014 National election , they need to come up with honest / transparent and IMMEDIATE answers

• hemen parekh [ 14 Sept 2013 ]

Your Move !

Supreme Court has made its move and prevented “ convicted “ criminal MPs / MLAs from occupying their seats in Lok Sabha / State Assemblies

But even Supreme Court cannot prevent,

* Parties from giving tickets
* Candidates from contesting
* Voters from electing

– a crime-charged ( but not yet convicted ) politician

Voters of Delhi ,

But you can !

By insisting / demanding that Congress / BJP / AAP, put-up on their web sites , full “ Janam-Kundli “ ( Life-Story ) of each and every candidate

That must include :

 Financial Status ( Assets / Liabilities / All Bank Accounts – including foreign )

 Criminal Status ( FIRs / Charge-Sheets / Convictions / Appeals / Jail-terms served )

 Nexus Status ( Positions / Ownerships held – past or present – in Companies / Organizations / Trusts / NGOs / Businesses etc )

 Family Status ( all of the above mentioned info for each member of the immediate family )

 Affiliation Status ( Membership of and positions held , in any/all political parties , present and past )

Each Janam-Kundli must be capable of being :

 Downloaded

 Forwarded

 Emailed

 Shared on Social Networking Web sites

I have a feeling that only Aam Admi Party ( AAP ) will come forward to accept this challenge

If so , your choice is clear :

Enable AAP to win at least 40 seats on 4th Dec 2013 ! No less !

People of Delhi ,

Now is time for YOUR MOVE !

• hemen parekh ( 06 Oct 2013 )

BJP Poll Manifesto

Mr Murli Manohar Joshi is in charge of drawing up BJP’s Poll Manifesto for 2014 Lok Sabha Elections

He has invited suggestions from public for possible incorporation in the manifesto , if found suitable

Based on my perception of what would benefit the public most ( in order of importance ) , following is how BJP’s manifesto should read :

 Corruption

We will introduce / pass , “ Anna-Version “ of Jan Lok-Pal Bill within 2 months of assuming power at the Center

 Jobs

We will create 15 million jobs per year , starting from 2015

 Economy

We will liberalize FDI in Insurance / Retail and all other non-defense related sectors of economy

 Productive Use of Un-Productive Money

We will create a structure, whereby Private sector and Religious Trusts ( such as Tirupati / Lord Padmanabhan / Shirdi SaiBaba / Satya SaiBaba / Siddhi Vinayak / VaishnoDevi etc ) , will come forward to invest , at least Rs 10 lakh crores per year for the next 5 years. This will be done thru,

• No-Tax ( for 10 years ) , “ Job Creation “ Bonds , exclusively devoted to creation of Jobs for poor people in less-developed states

• Enabling investments into these bonds , thru a Voluntary Disclosure Scheme ( VDS ) where no questions will be asked as to the source of the funds. This will bring back Rs 35 lakh crores stashed away unproductively / secretly by Indian nationals and Trusts

• We will create similar “ Job Creation “ Bonds where subscription will be restricted to,

# NRIs / PIOs
# Foreign NGOS / Charitable Trusts
# Foreign Sovereign Funds

• We will introduce this measure within 6 months of coming to power

 CBI

We will make CBI truly independent of the Central Government , by making Chief of CBI report to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
CBI will have its own Expense Budget ( as part of the Central Budget ) and will be free to hire additional professionals without needing permission from any Central Ministry

 Electoral Reforms

We will introduce , within 6 months , a Electoral Reforms Bill in Lok Sabha. This will have provisions for
• NOTA

• Right to Recall

• Negative Vote …………..etc

 Representation of People Act

We will amend this Act within 6 months of assuming power , by incorporating provisions for

• Acceptance of ALL donations to political parties only thru cheques

• Issue of paper receipts for all donations

• Publishing on party web site ,

# full details of funding / expenditure etc

# full details of Assets / Liabilities / Income Tax Returns filed etc of Senior party functionaries ( including those holding Ministerial positions ) – updated annually

# full details of FIRs / Court-Cases ( whether criminal or civil ) filed against any Senior Party Functionaries , with punishments awarded , if any

# number of Lok Sabha / Rajya Sabha meetings attended by its elected representatives

 Naxal / Maoist Menace

We will eliminate this menace thru full integration of these Tribal areas into the mainstream of the Social / Political and Economic development.
We will do this by granting special status to these areas , where industries / businesses / NGOs , will be encouraged to set up Skills Training Institutes , by giving accelerated depreciation benefit for the Capital Expenditure incurred and 150 % write-off on the recurring annual revenue expenditure

 Relations with Pakistan

Whereas we will encourage constructive dialogue with Pakistan to resolve all outstanding issues , this will be done only after Pakistan dismantles all terror-training camps on its territory , as certified by a UN Agency , on an ongoing basis

Dear Mr Joshi :

I am not sure how many citizens will take the trouble to spell out their suggestions like this
My last suggestion is that you frame a “ Multiple Choice Questionnaire “
Publish this on as many Media as possible – especially Online Web sites
Then ask people to record their choices
A Smart Phone based Mobile App would be great !

• hemen parekh ( 19 Oct 2013 )

Selling Dreams ?

Yesterday , on ABP TV , Arvind Kejriwal ( Aam Aadmi Party ) promised to Delhiwallas , unbelievable improvements in ,

> Healthcare

> Education

> Electricity Supply & Prices

> Safe drinking water , etc

Apart from a Jan LokPal

Provided , Delhiwallas vote AAP to an absolute majority ( he expects 48 seats ) , on 4th Dec

At the moment , it appears that he has succeeded in selling a dream !

That is one kind of ability that most politicians do possess

But most of them woefully lack the second kind of ability , viz:

> Management of expectations raised , thru delivering on promises made

It does not take a genius , much hard work or a lot of money , if your promise is :

> 35 Kg of free rice per month to each poor family

I hope 71 constituency-wise manifestos that AAP promises to publish by this week-end , do not contain such ” Insults ” to people suffering for so long !

Delivering on promises made by AAP , will require :

> A time bound ACTION PLAN ( Roadmap ) with quantitative Achievement
Targets ( Milestones )

> A ” Resource Mobilization Plan ” which clearly spells out ,

* How much money will be required for each initiative ( budgetary
allocations )

* How ( from where ) this money will be raised ?

Raising taxes is bad ! Borrowing is worse ! Begging Central Govt is
worst ! Can you save from ” leakages ” ?

> Transparent procedures , open to public scrutiny

> A honest / corruption-free / committed bureaucracy to implement

> Non – interference by elected MLAs

> How will public be involved ?

> Which third party will measure the ” Actual vs Targetted ” performance
and publish the audited results, and how often ?

Surely ,drawing up and monitoring such a Project Plan , cannot be a Rocket Science for IIT / IIM whizkid volunteers of AAP , when their classmates at ISRO are launching Mars Orbiter Mission ( MOM ) today !

If AAP manages to display this second kind of post-election ” Performance Ability ” , then it will truly herald an ” Indian Spring ” and re-write the rules of how elections will get fought in State / National elections

Good Luck , Arvind !

* hemen parekh ( 05 Nov 2013 )