NEW DELHI: Seeking to address key voter concerns ahead of next week’s elections, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised on Sunday to create jobs and a new common civil code for the country if it wins a third term.

The general election, which begins on April 19, will be held in seven stages until June 1. Votes are due to be counted on June 4 and results expected the same day.

The BJP launched its 76-page manifesto on Sunday, wading into a polarising debate by reaffirming its stand on a uniform civil code (UCC), which would standardise laws for personal matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance across faiths and religious communities.

Many communities, particularly Muslims, fear a UCC would encroach on their religious laws and see it as an attack on their identity and against India’s secular constitution.

BJP unveils 76-page manifesto days before it goes to polls in India

The manifesto did not refer to either Hinduism or Islam by name, but the BJP pitched to Muslim women voters by pointing out it had protected them from the “barbaric” practice of “instant divorce”. The manifesto stated the party “believes that there cannot be gender equality till such time Bharat adopts a uniform civil code, which protects the rights of all women”.

Surveys, however, suggest unemployment, inflation and rural distress remain issues of concern in the world’s most populous country despite its strong economy, and addressing these will be Modi’s biggest challenge.

“Our focus is on dignity of life ... on quality of life, our focus is also on creating jobs through investment,” Modi said after releasing the manifesto, titled Modi’s Guarantee, at the party headquarters in the capital.

Modi insisted that the manifesto was focused on creating jobs in sectors such as infrastructure, aviation, railways, electric vehicles, green energy, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, among others, in a bid to address discontent at unemployment levels that are rising despite strong economic growth.

“India’s youth will not have even imagined the number of opportunities that will come their way,” he told cheering BJP members, including top federal ministers who sat in the audience wearing stoles featuring the BJP’s lotus symbol.

‘Empty promises’

Congress, the main opposition party, which has been struggling to revive its fortunes, said it was not impressed by a manifesto that is filled with “empty promises”.

“Today, people want to ask what happened in the last 10 years,” Congress lawmaker Manish Tewari said. “Unemployment is rampant and inflation has broken the back of common people. The people of the country will hold him (Modi) to account for what’s happened in the last 10 years.”

Modi also vowed to expand welfare programmes, including bringing all Indians above the age of 70 under an existing free health insurance programme and pushing piped cooking gas connections to all houses to follow up on a subsidised cooking gas cylinder programme launched in 2016.

Other BJP promises include raising the cap on loans for non-farming small and micro borrowers, offering free housing for another 30 million poor and keeping up a free grains programme for 800 million Indians until 2029.

The manifesto said the BJP government would continue to focus on a path of low inflation and fiscal prudence to achieve high economic growth.

“The ambition of the 1.4 billion people of the country is my mission,” Modi said. “I am placing this manifesto before the people to seek their blessings. Please bless us ... to increase our strength ... implement this manifesto and ensure a developed India.”

Unemployment was the primary concern of 27pc of the 10,000 voters surveyed by Lokniti-CSDS across 19 of India’s 28 states, with rising prices coming second at 23pc, the Hindu newspaper reported last week.

The unemployment rate rose to 5.4pc in 2022-23, from 4.9pc in 2013-14 just before Modi swept to power, and nearly 16pc of urban youth in the 15-29 years age group remained unemployed in 2022-23 due to poor skills and a lack of quality jobs, official data shows.

“BJP does not even want to discuss the most important issues related to people’s lives, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted on X. “This time the youth is not going to fall into Modis trap, now they will strengthen the hands of Congress and bring an ‘employment revolution’ in the country.”

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2024