Themeless election India needs a positive agenda

'It has been over 50 days since the Election Commission of India announced the Lok Sabha election and the Model Code of Conduct came into force.

Three phases of voting have concluded, with voters in over half the Lok Sabha constituencies having exercised their franchise. While both the ruling National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Opposition bloc, with the Congress as its largest constituent, are campaigning to improve their chances, what voters are missing is a substantive debate on crucial issues. To be sure, both parties have released their manifestos, but they are not necessarily the main talking points. And, in any case, campaigning in India is much more than manifestos. What India instead has are debates on mostly irrelevant and often undesirable issues. An electorate that would soon be running the world's thirdlargest economy was expecting better. Since the focus is not on substantive issues, the language has also been a casualty.