Lofty claims, little change on
the ground
N D Sharma
Kamal Nath
C
redit must be given to
political adroitness of
Madhya Pradesh Chief
Minister Kamal Nath
that he managed to
complete one year in
office in spite of intense infighting in
the ruling Congress party and
intermittent threats from the BJP to
topple his government.
Last year he formed a minority
government with the help of one SP,
two BSP and four independent MLAs
after a prolonged tussle within his
own party, first for the post of Chief
Minister and then for representation
of different factions in the Council of
Ministers.
A K Antony
Kantilal Bhuria
In sheer desperation, he inducted
28 members into his cabinet, all of
cabinet rank and only six of them with
previous experience as ministers. The
infighting in the Congress continued
throughout the year. At one stage the
fight between Forest Minister Umang
Singhar and former Chief Minister
Digvijaya Singh was referred to the
Central Disciplinary Committe
headed by A K Antony which,
apparently, could do no more than
warn them as it could not risk action
against either of them under the
present circumstances. With the
recent victory of former Union
Minister Kantilal Bhuria from the
Jhabua constituency in a by-election,
the ruling party reached a halfway
point with 115 members in a House of
230.
One year later, Kamal Nath is
feeling more confident. In a lacklustre function organised on
November 17 to celebrate completion
of one year of his government, he
launched his government’s “Vision to
Delivery Roadmap 2020-2025”, even
though the term of the present
Assembly is till the end of 2023 only.
The “Roadmap” was released by
former Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan
While presenting the salient points
of the “Roadmap” before a select
audience at historic Minto Hall, Kamal
Nath (in Modi style) first castigated the
previous BJP government of Shivraj
Singh Chouhan for its various failures
and then enumerated his
achievements, starting every sentence
with “I did this” or “I made this”. He
made much of his first decision to
waive farmers’ loans which, though,
still continues to be a contentious
issue in the State. The Chief Minister
claimed that he had fulfilled 365
promises made by him in the past 365
days.
Some of the achievements claimed
by him were: 27 per cent reservation
to backward classes; provision of 100
units of power for Rs 100 only under
the Indira Griha Jyoti Yojana,
benefiting 85 lakh consumers;
enhancement of Nirashrit pension
from Rs 300 to Rs 500 per month;
increase of the grant under girls’
marriage/ nikah scheme from
Rs 28,000 to Rs 51,000;
implementation of Kisan Samriddhi
Yojana for price stabilisation of
wheat; launch of Mukhyamantri
Yuva Swabhimaan Yojana to train
urban youth in vocational skills; an
posting of doctors in adequate
numbers in health institutions with
modern medical facilities.
The Chief Minister’s lofty claims
notwithstanding, there is little
change visible on the ground.
Corruption in government
departments continues unabated,
law and order situation in the State
is as bad as it was during the
previous BJP government, crimes
against women have only
increased, government hospitals
continue to be in bad shape,
academic institutions are restless
and distribution of electricity and
drinking water continues to be
faulty. Administration remains
almost paralysed because of
frequent transfers and re-transfers
of civil and police officers
(reportedly involving huge
amounts of money), there is a
government in the State but hardly
any governance.
The only commendable thing is
the government’s recent “war”
against the adulterators of food
items. Some horrible facts have
come to light in the process.
Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative
Dairy Federation supplies milk and
milk products in the State under
the brand name of Sanchi. It has
now been revealed that the Sanchi
milk was adulterated with
detergents --- no one knows for
how many years it has been going
on.
Recently the government took on
land mafia also and demolished their
illegal posh hotels, clubs and
restaurants in Bhopal and Indore,
some of them being in operation for
decades. There are allegations that
the government is targeting mafia
leaders affiliated to the BJP only and
was sparing those with connections in
the Congress.
A Congress leader, however,
remarked that crooks are rarely loyal
to a particular party as they align with
whichever party is in power. In any
case, the government is yet to take on
sand mafia which is so powerful that it
has attacked, in the past, many government officials trying to check
their illegal activities and even killed
an upright IPS officer.
N P Prajapati
Tarun Bhanot
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh’s presence at the
function did little to enliven the event.
He spoke, more or less, on the points
from the “Roadmap” which the Chief
Minister had earlier mentioned; like
the government’s efforts to increase
investment which would open up
opportunities for more employment.
He did not digress from the
“Roadmap”.
Those who were hoping that the
former Prime Minister would say
something about the volatile situation
in the country were sorely
disappointed. He did not field
questions from the audience nor did
the Chief Minister. After the Chief
Minister and the Prime Minister had
delivered their sparkless speeches,
the function was over.
Even though Assembly Speaker N P
Prajapati and Finance Minister Tarun
Bhanot were seated on the dais,
neither of them was asked to speak.
After the speeches, the former Prime
Minister was whisked away for the
lunch. He was kept away from the
media. His only other programme in
the city was a visit to Tribal Museum in
the afternoon.
The only significant part of the
function was the giving away the
Indira Gandhi Award for Social
Service posthumously to Abdul
Jabbar for his dedicated life-long
efforts for relief and rehabilitation
of the victims of Bhopal Gas Leak
Disaster of 1984. But that, too, the
government did without any grace.
It is the highest and most
prestigious Award of the State
government and carries Rs 10 lakh.
Jabbar died on November 14. Jabbar’s
wife, Sayra Bano, received the citation
and the cheque from Manmohan
Singh. However, neither Chief Minister
Kamal Nath nor former Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh even
mentioned Jabbar’s name in their
speeches, leave aside saying a few
words about his struggle for the gas
leak victims. The citation was there
but it was not even read out.