Manifestos and politics of hope

The rise of an electorate that wants more than caste empowerment is evident in the discourse

- 

The NDA manifesto ("Sankalpa Patra"), released Friday, three days after the Mahagathbandhan's "Bihar Ka Tejashwi Pran" (Bihar's Tejashwi Resolve), confirms a trend that Hindustan Times pointed to earlier this week.

After being in the grip of the Mandal paradigm for close to four decades, politics in Bihar appears to be transcending it to embrace a governance agenda, a kind of caste-plus politics, that suggests the rise of a caste neutral aspirational class. In this respect, the NDA and Mahagathbandhan manifestos have much in common. Both alliances recognise that employment is a big issue, and in a state deeply impacted by out-migration, that voters are no longer satisfied with caste empowerment but expect their politicians to create jobs at home and develop infrastructure available in other parts of India. That explains why the manifestos have much in common - and they go beyond promising welfare and full employment to building a "new age economy".