By Nimesh Bansal
Yogi Adityanath, dubbed by his followers as mini Modi, recently completed 6 months as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Marching with the slogan “Na Gundaraj, Na Bhrashtachar, Abki baar BJP Sarkar” when he came to power, Adityanath made some bold promises. Six months on, the chief minister has a patchy report card. Shifting focus away from his governments performance, however, Yogi sought to target past regimes.
Blame game still strong
On the eve of completing six months in office, Yogi Adityanath released a 24-page document called the White Paper, criticising the previous governments in Uttar Pradeshthe Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP). The White Paper highlights the failures of the previous BSP and SP state governments in the last 15 years, and touches on various shortcomings in the areas of education and law and order, among others. The CM said it was important to show the faults of the previous governments before presenting the achievements of his own, saying It is necessary to tell the states 22 crore people of what was happening in the state before March 19, 2017. He added that when he took over his duties as CM, debts were high, coffers were running empty and that there was an imbalance in the states financial condition. Former CM Akhilesh Yadav has dismissed the white paper as a book of lies, alleging the Yogi government has failed to bring about any development in the past 6 months.
Data versus false words
Law and order has been a perennial problem in Uttar Pradesh. Yogi Adityanath promised to tackle the issue after taking oath as chief minister. He had warned anti-socials who were under the protection of power to leave UP, threatening they will be sent to places where nobody wants to go. Alleging that two riots took place every week during the previous governments reign, Adityanath proudly declared that UP has been riot-free for 6 months. While that may be true, the rule of law in the state leaves a lot to be desired. During Yogis tenure, 729 murders, 803 rapes, 60 robberies, 799 incidents of looting, and 2,682 abduction incidents have been reported.
Anti-Romeo squads were the talk of the town when Yogi Adityanath took charge. An initiative aimed at tackling eve-teasers quickly ran out of steam and got mired in controversy. Reports came to light of policemen indulging in moral policing, unnecessary harassment, and taking bribes, rendering the campaign ineffective at best and oppressive at worst.
Farmers and electricity supply
Farmer welfare was a key item on the Yogi agenda. Adityanath claims that the state has started a system to provide farmers with tube wells and solar pumps. Furthermore, he claims that so far loans of 86 lakh farmers of various amounts up to Rs 1 lakh have been waived by his government. However, there have been reports indicating that farmers have been receiving loan waiver certificates of Rs 9, Rs 18, Rs 20 and so on while their loan amounts have exceeded Rs 1 lakh. The CM signed a Power for All agreement when he came to power. He boldly promised to provide electricity to every household in the state by October 2018. He announced that the district headquarters would be provided 24 hours electricity, while the villages would be given 18 hours of electricity. In reality, however, Lucknow has been on the receiving end of multiple undeclared power cuts.
The worst tragedy
But the biggest blot on Yogis report card has been the Gorakhpur tragedy. What makes it worse is that Yogi Adityanath represented Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha for five terms, raising the issue of encephalitis-induced child deaths in the constituency every year and demanding action. Adityanaths ascent to the chief minister post was widely expected to stem these deaths but an oxygen scandal meant that more and more children gasped to their death. An already untenable situation was made worse by the government’s incessant blame game and refusal to take responsibility. While multiple promises have reneged, it may well take more than just 6 months to show results in a state like Uttar Pradesh. But things need to improve and fast if mini Modi is to live up to the hype BJP created when Yogi Adityanath was thrust into the limelight.
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