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On March 11, while unveiling the rollout of the ruling Samajwadi Party’s flagship free laptop scheme in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav took a swipe at his detractors for calling the scheme a ‘jhunjhuna’ (rattle toy).
He boasted that his government had succeeded in fulfilling the ambitious freebie scheme worth over Rs 2,800 crore even before the first anniversary of his regime.
Yadav’s boast merely confirmed a feeling UP has had: that the sole achievement of his government was to provide doles, freebies and promises. The freebies rolled out thus far include the unemployment allowance, the kanya vidya dhan scheme, farmers’ loan waiver, laptops etc.
After coming to power on March 15, 2012, he was seen as the game changer for UP, which is home to over 200 million people and an economy that is second to only Maharashtra.
But a year after he took over, hopes have been belied. While, the law and order situation has taken a turn for the worse, the industrial climate is yet to see the transformation that Akhilesh had promised at the change of guard.
Top industry captains had converged in Lucknow to meet the ‘net savvy’ CM. They included Shiv Nadar, Adi Godrej, Bill Gates, Malvinder Mohan Singh, Lalit Khaitan, A M Naik and S Ramadorai to name a few.
The state government even organised an Agra Summit in association with CII this year. Yet, there has been no big ticket investment in UP. The new infrastructure and industrial development policy of the state seems to be lying in limbo.
SP, which had been critical of the previous Mayawati regime over cases of corruption, did a volte-face and adopted her excise policy for the next two years. The party, which had accused Mayawati of hobnobbing with her select group of industrialists/companies, including Ponty Chadha and Jaypee, has been equally friendly with them.
For a young politician, Akhilesh has acquired the image of a politician who has good intentions but who is not in control of his government and administration His government is charged with having multiple power centres with officials owing allegiance to their favourite political masters.
So much so, CM’s father Mulayam Singh Yadav has time and again warned against the complacency of the state ministers and laxity of officials. This had even led to a reshuffle in the state cabinet.
Addressing the media today, Yadav conceded that his government was concerned about the law and order situation and was committed to taking strict action.
The recent killing of a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and a village head and his brother has again put the dismal policing in the limelight. Independent MLA from Kunda Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya is accused of conspiracy in the case and he had to resign from the cabinet. The CBI is probing the case.
There have been dozens of communal riots cases in the last one year with murders, rapes, highway robberies and kidnapping cases being reported on a regular basis.
“We are sprucing up the policing machinery to reduce response time and ensure prompt action in criminal cases,” Akhilesh responded to the media.
Though the jury is still out on Akhilesh and his government, the 2014 general election will test his mettle: whether politics had got the better of governance, yet again.
