Indian Overseas Congress chairman Sam Pitroda on Tuesday hailed Congress manifesto as "humanistic," and stated that "it is a good manifesto according to me but some people say, it is a communist manifesto," news agency ANI reported.
Speaking about the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Pitroda said: "Let's wait for two months and we will know. There is no need to predict right now what will happen. Indian voters have a tendency to surprise people. Look what happened to Indira Gandhi when she declared an Emergency. She was thrown out and then she was put back in. So don't underestimate the intelligence of Indian voters."
He expressed concerns over the state of democracy in India, and United States which he cited as an inspiration for his book 'The Idea of Democracy'.
"There is something strange going in the world. We really don't know what it is and why it is? But world over, people are not happy with the governments. Maybe it has to do with the fact that when the old order organised by the kings and queens broke with revolution with France, Russia and then finally loss of British Raj, people felt that they will have the right to govern their destiny. But it turned out that a new elite emerged. Rich businessmen started controlling politics," he stated.
The lok sabha elections will be held in 7 phases from April 19 to June 1, spanning 543 constituencies. The model code of conduct has been in effect since the evening of March 16 and will remain until the completion of the counting process on June 4.