What do 'freebies' mean to whom? 

On the face of it, most political parties are against the culture of ‘freebies’, yet few refrain from partaking in it during elections. Freebies given by political parties are given free of charge, but are hardly for free. 

Currently, not only are political parties taking jibes at each other over freebies, the Supreme Court is also hearing arguments to curb political parties from distributing irrational freebies from public funds.

But all the stakeholders have different things to say about freebies:

BJP: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remark on “revdi culture” is at the centre of most of these arguments. Revdi is a sweet popular in North India, that is often distributed during festivals. “In our country today, attempts are being made to bring a culture of garnering votes by distributing ‘revdis’. This ‘revdi culture’ is very dangerous for the development of the country. People of the country and especially the youth need to guard against this culture,” PM Modi had said in July while addressing a gathering in Uttar Pradesh.

More recently, this week, the BJP launched a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and said that those who are “zeroes at the grassroot level want to become heroes by distributing revdis”. 

AAP: Responding to PM Modi’s remark, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had lashed out at the central government for “disturbing the peaceful atmosphere” of the country. Kejriwal said that “giving free education, free electricity and free water” is now a crime. “They [BJP] waived off debt worth Rs 10 lakh crore of some people. It is being said that some of them are their friends. No one is talking about it,” he said.

“As we celebrate 75 years of Independence, I demand the central government to provide good free education, healthcare, 300 units of electricity and unemployment allowance in the country. Those who call it ‘revdi’ are traitors of the country,” he said. 

Kejriwal said that he has been accused of looting money and distributing free revdis but he is not going to Swiss banks with money or wasting public money. 

Supreme Court: The top court had on August 3 asked stakeholders like the central government, Niti Aayog, Finance Commission and the RBI, to brainstorm on the "serious" issue of freebies announced during elections and put forth constructive suggestions to tackle it.

Chief Justice of India NV Ramana had earlier called the culture of promising freebies during elections “a very serious issue”. In January, ahead of the UP elections, the Supreme Court issued notices to the central government and the Election Commission of India (ECI), and called out political parties for distributing freebies. The apex court had issued notices to the Centre and the ECI seeking directions to seize election symbols and deregister political parties that promised to offer irrational freebies at the public’s expense.

Also read: Free education, healthcare should be fundamental rights, not freebies: CM Kejriwal

Also read: SC asks govt to curb election freebies; calls it a ‘very serious issue’