Saying much but nothing at all

Itrsquos amusing how politicians seem to think we are all a bunch of morons suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Itrsquos worrying how they are probably right given what we allow them to get away with I think about this whenever the circus we call Election Season comes around when parties beat their drum shout each other out and trot out promises they think we all want to hearThere are all kinds of wild claims and promises made during this time as if the manifestos are created not by people who understand a statersquos problems but by rejected writers of fiction who need to kill time before their next awful novelI spent some time reading a few of the manifestos that were released over the past couple of weeks I did this not because I love wasting time on things that donrsquot mean anything to anyone but because everyone I spoke to about the elections claimed to know nothing concrete about what these manifestos were promising They simply werenrsquot taken seriously There was apathy in these responses of course but also an extreme cynicism that ought to worry anyone invested in the idea of a democracy There was no worry either though because it sometimes feels as if we have all decided to give up and go homeThe first manifesto I picked up promised to make the state droughtfree It involved the collection and diversion of rainwater the creation of a comprehensive water grid and a few other things that appeared to have been cobbled together from earlier manifestos created during the last elections Around a quarter of a century ago journalist P Sainath published his seminal collection of articles on rural India titled Everybody Loves A Good Drought It documented everything from the bureaucracy that gets in the way of common sense to unbridled corruption that allows land to be auctioned off to the highest bidder So much of what he uncovered continues to be relevant today prompting me to look at the manifesto before me as nothing but a farcical documentAnother promise involved jobs for one crore youth which is the kind of generic statement that is guaranteed to yield nothing After all who will count these one crore youth and who is to define what these jobs involve What do these youth get paid Are they ever given enough to sustain themselves None of these questions were addressed in detail obviously because we are not a nation that prides itself on specifics when the generic makes for better headlines The manifesto could have listed jobs for two crore youth instead of one but probably didnrsquot because another manifesto had already claimed the figureThen there was the promise of constructing 30000 kilometres of rural roads Consider if you will the state of a single kilometre of urban road the next time you step outside What does this pristine construction look like How does the vehicle yoursquore in respond to it Given how many people die routinely on these roads because of potholes think about the quality of these rural roads and how long they may last if they are ever created at all Consider that one may simply drop a few hundred paver blocks in a straight line somewhere and tick off lsquo Road Constructedrsquo in a file that can then be added to a list of accomplishmentsAnother promise involved rehabilitating the families of martyred soldiers This is the perfect kind of promise to make because as Bollywood has long taught us it involves just the right amount of cheesy tugging of heartstrings It ticks all the appropriate boxes mdash lsquo rehabilitatersquo lsquo martyrrsquo lsquo soldierrsquo mdash that crop up with stunning regularity whenever we are asked to forgive or forget something by people who visit war zones only via a television remote controlI stopped reading after a point because another promise about cheap meals reminded me of the exact same promise made a few decades ago This time the cost was Rs 10 per meal Back then we were promised a meal for Rs 1 All we got instead was a land grab scam for stalls that eventually sold Chinese food and probably continue to do soFor once I would like to see promises kept instead of promises made Promises about pothole free roads clean public toilets more efficient hospitals Results we can see for a change rather than results we have no way of proving I am unfortunately old enough to know this will never happenWhen he isnrsquot ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereiraSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paperCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates