Poll-bound Himachal

THREE years as Prime Minister has not dulled Narendra Modi’s appetite to position himself as an outsider out to storm the barricades. His Himachal sojourn was part of that piece. The PM set the tone for a rancorous and spiteful election by terming the entire Himachal Government as “out on bail”. The charge would have stuck had he made the same observation shortly after taking over as Prime Minister. That was when the UPA had been laid low by the Anna Hazare movement, the CAG’s observations and a couple of high-profile corruption cases. 

Frivolous name calling is now a well-worn strategy. Apart from firewalling discussion on relevant issues, some of the high moral horsing suggests selective political vendetta rather than a genuine effort to curb corruption. Initially, the PM was seen as setting the template for a serious debate on what ails the state. His announcement of an IIIT in Una and an AIIMS at Bilaspur had given the impression that the BJP’s conversations would revolve around the plank of development. The PM also laid down several markers for improving the social indices such as promising electricity to all in three years, although this meant the goalpost had been quietly shifted. 

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had joined this reasoned conversation by putting up his government’s record for scrutiny: medical colleges at Chamba, Nahan, Hamirpur and Ner Chowk, IIT at Mandi and a Central university. But the state government, battling adverse political headwinds and dissension in the ranks, is already on a weak wicket. By succumbing to the appeal of polemics by focusing on the money-laundering charges and a disproportionate assets case against Virbhadra Singh, the PM may have missed the opportunity to initiate a debate on finding concrete solutions to some very grave problems facing the state. The PM would have served the state’s interests better by declaring a CM candidate. After all, the Himachalis do not deserve a wet-behind-the-ears or inept administrator foisted on them as has been the case in some states where moral high horsing dominated the pre-poll conversation.