Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Pakistani policy expert praises BJP's manifesto, calls it 'forward-looking'

A Pakistani policy expert has praised the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) manifesto, saying it has forward-looking projects, but said the Congress party's document is "backward-looking". Uzair Younus, former director of the Pakistan Initiative at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center, said the BJP's manifesto talks about a rising Bharat, which will have respect internationally, become the world's factory, promote Make in India, and ensure access to education to young women. "The BJP has made its manifesto with forward-looking projects," Younus said in a podcast aired on May 16.           

"It (manifesto) also has social elements like the Uniform Civil Code, which some people disagree with but I have a very different view. We can debate on the process but, by and large, I believe the Uniform Civil Code can be part of any democracy," Younus said, adding that the document also has the National Register of Citizens (NRC), but largely it is a "forward-looking, rising Bharat" manifesto.

"When I read that, I said I can see this is a 21st Century vision from the BJP and Narendra Modi, parts of which you agree and parts of which you don't agree with," he said. "But when I read Congress' manifesto, I found it to be a backward-looking manifesto."

Younus suggested that the Congress' manifesto does not offer any vision and repeats whatever it has done already like. "Humne ya kiya, aur hum aake wahi dohrayenge. (We have done this, and we will repeat it again). We will give more quotas, will include caste in the quota system, and will provide employment this way. When you look book at design programmes then new voters won't resonate," he said.  

The policy expert said that when he compared BJP's and Congress' manifestos, he found: "BJP's manifesto was forward-looking, whether I like parts of it or not. And the Congress' manifesto was backward-looking, whether I like parts of it or not. That's the fundamental mismatch you have - Modi is always ahead of the curve. He is talking to aspirational Indian citizens, whereas Congress is talking to historical citizens as part of that conversation which leads them to handicap".  

The Pakistani expert referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent event with content creators and praised him for encouraging social media influencers to create useful content and bring a change in society. "He (Modi) has given them (content creators) a mission - that as a communicator your job is to tell the Indian citizens of tomorrow - How to be better. He talked about investment, growth, and how the government will support them."

"Compare that to the conversation in Pakistan. The most interesting conversation I read from Pakistani politics is - digital terrorism. The most powerful man in India is telling its young influencers, podcasters, and content creators to do more, help change society, make it better, and break taboos. The most powerful man in Pakistan is scaring Pakistan's next generation by saying - what you are trying to do is potentially digital terrorism."