Rhetoric takes the sheen off state BJP’s good schemes

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 12

The first-ever BJP government in Haryana led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar completes one year in office later this month.  The Khattar’s team, comprising of inexperienced and greenhorns, has struggled hard to dispel criticism, but the Opposition has adopted an aggressive stand on issues such as high power bills and poor procurement measures.

Arguments between the ruling party and the Opposition range between “we are taking time to clean up the mess left by the Congress” and “out of ten, the BJP government has failed to score even one point”.

The Chief Minister has taken some good initiatives such as setting up the CM Window to redress grievances and women’s police stations but, at the same time, the BJP government has failed miserably to address concerns of farmers and guest teachers. High power bills have added to government’s worries.

In the soup, time and again

Some members of the Khattar’s team have shown penchant to remain in controversies and, in the process, landing the government in the soup. The government, its opponents say, is largely based on rhetoric and less on action.

Ever since the government came to power, it has been beset with one crisis or the other — some of them are a result of its own making and others because of natural calamities.

The government failed to handle the Rampal case and provide farmers with urea when they needed it the most. Its employees are unhappy and Jat reservation is becoming a ticklish matter.

On the other hand, damage to wheat by hailstorm, and the loss of cotton and guar due to whitefly attack posed challenges for the government.

RSS imprint apparent

No matter how much the government tries to dispel the perception that it is not being led by the nose by bureaucracy, the general perception among masses remains otherwise.

The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) is being run by an advisor from the RSS background and the CM himself looks to Delhi or the RSS for major decisions. Ad-hocism rules the roost in the BJP regime.

During its one year in power, the BJP government has been unable to appoint chairpersons of several boards, and corporations, while its akademis (Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Sanskrit and Arts) are still headless.

The government is seen trying to saffronise education and culture. The inclusion of Gita ‘shlokas’ in textbooks, introduction of books by RSS ideologue Dina Nath Batra and passage of the Haryana Cow Protection Act are some of the examples of saffronisation. Health Minister Anil Vij’s tweets on declaring cow as the national animal in place of tiger is the latest addition to the government’s saffron agenda.

Claim on transparency real?

On the other hand, efforts to bring transparency in the CLU grant system, reduction in marks of interviews in recruitment to Class III posts, initiatives such as CM Window, Harsamay and women’s police stations are expected to show results in curbing corruption.

The government’s claims on zero tolerance on corruption, however, has failed to convince people when they see how officers such as Ashok Khemka and Pradeep Kasni have been made to cool heels in inconsequential departments.

The “fight” between senior police officers in Gurgaon has had no solution, suggesting that neither the police department nor the Chief Minister has any control over officers.

If a record relief of Rs 1,100 crore for crop damage and that, too, in a record time is government’s achievement, the same government is accused of aggravating agrarian crisis by failing to provide remunerative prices for crops and timely inputs to farmers.

With the Congress already in the agitation mode and the INLD (till recently being termed BJP’s B team) also getting aggressive, particularly ahead of panchayat elections, the coming days are going to be tough for the government unless the BJP becomes more productive in its second year in office.