Bengaluru: Freeze mob questions delay of manifestos

BENGALURU: The citizens’ group, Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), on Sunday staged a freeze mob protest in front of three offices of major political parties to question them over not releasing their manifestos despite just under a month to go for the assembly polls.

The protests were carried out in front of the Congress office on Queen’s Road, BJP office in Malleswaram and JD(S) office on Platform Road in Sheshadripuram. The intention of CfB was to send a strong message to the political parties that none of the parties had released their manifestos detailing what they planned to deliver to the public with just over three weeks left for polling day (May 12).

CfB volunteers held placards and struck unusual statue-like poses as part of the mob protest. A freeze mob protest involves protesters coming together and striking statue-like poses over minutes, carrying placards and posters to voice their dissent.

The placards highlighted various demands that were part of a manifesto that the CfB has brought out, titled #PattanadaPatti.

CfB members sought an explanation for the delay from Party representatives, who uniformly said that they are waiting for candidate lists to be announced.

“It was apparent that the BJP manifesto is not ready, while JD(S) was waiting for the other parties to release their manifestos first,” reads a statement from CfB.

Tara Krishnaswamy of CfB said, “While they talk of a Bengaluru manifesto, by not releasing it till the last minute, it is clear that they do not plan to fight this election on issues that matter to the people of the city.”
Srinivas Alavilli of CfB said, “CfB released the citizens manifesto months ago and it is disappointing that the political parties, with all their organisational strength, do not have a manifesto even on April 15.

On what basis do they expect citizens to vote for them? We went to every party office to alert them that time was running out and they must release manifestos in the next couple of days. If they showed 1 per cent of the interest that they show in candidate selection and ticket distribution to formulate a vision for the city, this election would be meaningful.”