BJP and Congress have released their vision documents to give the electorate a clear picture of what these two political parties will do in case they come to power. However, unlike the norms among political parties, we hope these vision documents don’t remain on paper only. The vision documents from both the political parties have many things that will, if done as promised, will make a difference and will help make life easy for the people of this peaceful state.
We are to discuss some of the points here, which, we think, are more contentious than others. The BJP document promised 24 hour helpline in the chief minister’s office for reporting all sorts of crimes, setting up of Somnath Vahini, a taskforce of ex-servicemen to take on drug mafia, stern action on crime, crackdown on mafia raj, women’s safety, free Chardham pilgrimage for elderly, better the law and order situation, eradication of corruption blah blah blah…
The case seems no different in Congress manifesto as it is nothing more than the same old, but diluted, wine in the new bottle, which both the political parties are serving on the platter to the electorate. Particularly, we all know that political parties tend to forget their election manifestos as soon as they come to the power – be it Congress or BJP – so it hardly makes a difference as to what is written therein.
One of the most important areas that all the political parties mention and do nothing about is creating job options in the state. Other than PK Dhumal and Virbhadra Singh fighting over taking government departments of prominence like Public Service Commission from Shimla to bring it back, little or no job opportunities are created for the youth of the state. Other than a couple of thousand jobs in the government sector that come with mandatory contract and no pension whatsoever, no job opportunities created by opening companies in the private sector. Even those who start their own ventures and created jobs, no help from the state government is provided – neither space nor financial. Instead, now the GST and government taxes are so high that starting a new venture is not possible.
Political parties are just interested to increase the taxes to fill up the coffers that they can use for their own vested interests, thereby wreaking havoc on the middle class. Owing to these reasons, the youth of the state is forced to step out to nearby Chandigarh, Delhi NCR areas and even beyond. The youth now is not that dumbfound to what politicians are doing to the state. Devouring on the taxpayers money and enjoying hefty perks is what politics is all about these days. This is the fate of the democracy and people are mistreated, ditched and favoritism leaves no space for the hoi-polloi to survive and live a dignified life.
Even the current ruling party, Congress, takes pride in offering a couple of thousand government jobs to the people of Himachal Pradesh and one wonders if they are enough. Well, we, the electorate want to know what about those who don’t get the government jobs? Is the state interested in opening up its barriers for the private companies to step in? If yes, then what measures they are taking, if any, in this direction? There are no private jobs in the state with the only exception of Baddi and Nalagarth areas in Solan district having some industries. The state capital has no private industries. The reason being, the state government is not doing enough to provide them with the required infrastructure to get established here. Hence, no jobs in the private sector.
