SP manifesto: Akhilesh shuns populism, seeks pro-development image

Fewer freebies this time; focus now is on smart villages, start-ups, single window and such like

The 2017 election manifesto of the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh seeks to establish Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s credentials as a development-oriented youth leader rather than one yielding to populism.

SP’s current manifesto, which was released in Lucknow recently, is a far cry from its 2012 election statement, which had then deliberately sought to shed its perceptible anti-English and anti-computer image by promising populist doles such as free laptops and tablets to students.

Its 2017 manifesto talks about ‘smart village’, ‘ease of business’, single window system, handicraft development park, entrepreneurship and start-up development, bicycle highways to stress its