A city where women can stay out of their homes as long as they wish to, a city where government schools match the standards of private schools and a city where every aspiring college students receive bank loans without collateral.
The promises made by the Aam Aadmi Party in its manifesto were so extensive and all-encompassing that journalists present at the release event quipped if the party had set out to establish Ram Rajya (ideal governance) in the Capital.
Reacting to this, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal claimed that he had indeed brought ‘Ram Rajya’ to the Capital during the 49 days he ruled it as the chief minister.
Promises are many in the manifesto and it has a 70-point-action plan. Presenting it, Mr. Kejriwal claimed that they had attempted to change the traditional approach of manifestoes being reduced to “insincere pledges with parties making them having no intent to back them with action”.
For his own party, he was quick to point out that even during the 49-day stint between December 2013 and February 2014, the AAP had delivered on the several promises he had made in the run up to the last Assembly elections.
“Electricity bills for usage up to 400 units were halved and we ordered an independent CAG audit of power discoms was ordered. We provided 20 kilolitres of lifeline water every month was made free. We kept our promises on corruption to decentralisation,” he said.
And while many of these deliverances as well as promises made the last time round have featured in the latest manifesto, the party has steered clear of setting deadlines like the last time.
