THE SOP OPERA CONTINUES

Populism has become the buzzword for the ruling AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and challenger DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) in the campaign for the April 6 assembly election in Tamil Nadu.

- Amarnath K. Menon

Manifestos released by the two Dravidian majors, on March 13 (DMK) and 14 (AIADMK), have a plethora of promises for the young—particularly college students—and women. At 31.8 million, women outnumber men by a million in the state’s electoral rolls and are a key constituency for political parties.

The DMK promises preference to first-generation graduates in government jobs, free tablets with data cards to all government school and college students, extending maternity leave to a year for government employees, a cut in the price of diesel by Rs 4 a litre and petrol by Rs 5 a litre, a subsidy of Rs 100 on cooking gas and even a law to reserve 75 per cent of jobs in the state for locals (see What’s on Offer?).

The party also says each PDS (public distribution system) cardholder will get a one-time grant of Rs 4,000 towards Covid relief and the quota for women in government jobs would be increased from 30 per cent to 40 per cent. With 500odd promises on the table, DMK president M.K. Stalin considers the party manifesto as “our second hero”, after the candidate.