By Vinod Raghavan*
Mumbai: Politicians doling out gifts, lavish food, cash and goodies also referred to as ‘revdi‘ is a common practice during elections in India. Election in Maharashtra is no exception, as revdis are being offered by the political parties by kilos.
However, they only add to the confusion among electorates who are unable to decide whose revdis are sweeter! Both the ruling and opposition alliance groups are promising huge revdi doles for the November 20, 2024, election in Maharashtra, the wealthiest state in India in terms of GDP.
Earlier, the beneficiaries were from slum areas but now this trend has seeped into posh housing societies. Many upper-class- well-to-do citizens, who own expensive cars for their personal use, still vie for free things doled out by politicians during poll time.
Interestingly, while in public meetings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is preaching against the revdi culture, targeting the Opposition parties, he remains tight-lipped on freebies being doled out by his own party-led alliance.
The opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress Party is distributing revdis in the form of promising Rs 3000 per month to women under the Mahalaxmi scheme and free travel on buses, free cervical cancer vaccines to all girls in 9-16 age group, and up to Rs 3 lakh debt waiver for farmers.
Ironically, it is doing so despite being critical of the ruling Mahayuti’s ‘Ladki Bahin‘ scheme for which Chief Minister Eknath Shinde recently announced raising monthly assistance for women from Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 2,100, alongside a plan to recruit 25,000 women into the police force to enhance safety.
The MVA accused Mahayuti of diverting funds from other allocations to run it.
As it is, the Maharashtra government is reeling under a debt estimated to be Rs 7,82, 991 crore as of 2024-25, which is 18.35% of the state’s GSDP. This is a continuation of the trend from the previous two years. In 2023-24, the total debt stock was 17.59% of the GSDP, and in 2022-23 it was 17.26%. In fact, the state ranks second in the country in terms of debt burden, after Tamil Nadu.
Yet doling out revdi is unstoppable. Mahayuti also offers in the poll manifesto an increase in the monthly pension from Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 2,100 for senior citizens; security coverage and an increase in monthly wages to Rs. 15,000 for Anganwadi and ASHA workers; a reduction in electricity bills by 30% by investing in solar and other renewable energy sources.
But this is not all. The contesting candidates too have taken the leaf out of their political outfits to dole out revdis at their own individual level. The Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) candidate from Shivajinagar-Mankhurd constituency, Nawab Malik, who is out on bail on charges of money laundering and who the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have continuously accused of having a connection with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, is promising to eradicate drug menace from Mankhurd and adjoining constituency Anushakti Nagar from where he was elected thrice. It may be recalled Malik was vocal when actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested on charges of drug use and possession in 2022. Aryan Khan spent 26 days in jail before being given bail but in May 2022, all charges against him were dropped.
A BJP MLA from Mumbai’s Ghatkopar West Assembly Constituency, Ram Kadam, has promised his voters a “free” darshan of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya. He made this promise much before the polls declared and since then he has changed the dates several times.
But these are just two random illustrations. There are millions who are gullible to the temptations offered by political leaders during elections. Politicians even dole out donations to them, using them to propagate their election work. Hence the culture of revdis seems to stay.
*Senior journalist
