Terms BJP government a failure on all fronts
THE PIONEER TALK
The BJP government of Uttarakhand has proved to be a failure in every front and the Congress party is poised to win the assembly elections scheduled in 2022. This claim was made by the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Pritam Singh during an online interaction with The Pioneer on Wednesday. He however sidestepped the leadership issue in the party by stating that the chief minister would be decided by the Congress high command and its decision would be respected by everyone in the party. Coming down heavily on the Trivendra Singh Rawat government for failing miserably in tackling the pandemic of Covid-19, the PCC chief said that at the start of the pandemic in the state, the Congress party had suggested that base camps should be made at different entry points in the state for returnees. He said that the government ignored the suggestion that the returnees should be allowed to visit their villages only after tests at base camps. “The government opened quarantine centres in every village loaded Pradhans with all the responsibility but no resources were provided to them. The situation of quarantine centres was very pathetic so much so that a girl died due to a snake bite, in one case a newly married woman was manhandled and a woman lost her life there,’’ he said. Singh added that while everyone is advocating that more tests should be conducted to combat Covid-19, the pace of tests has slowed down in Uttarakhand and samples are getting accumulated in labs increasing the backlog. He claimed that while the government failed to provide succour to people, the Congress party workers helped people during the lockdown period. Launching into a scathing attack on the BJP government, the PCC president recalled the big promises made by the party before the assembly elections of 2017 and said that not even a single promise was fulfilled. He said that farmers were promised loan waiver which was not delivered and in fact about 20 farmers have committed suicide in the state. Singh said that unemployed were promised jobs but no recruitment requisition was released. The PCC president reminded that in his first press conference (PC), the CM had claimed that Lokayukt would be brought within 100 days but Lokayukta is not in sight even as four years of rule are about to be completed. He said that CM had said on the floor of the assembly that CBI inquiry would be conducted on NH-74 scam but zero tolerance government dithered from the CBI investigation. The PCC president claimed that there is no coordination between CM and ministers and internal squabbles are common. Recently an officer refused to work under a minister which shows the situation of governance in the state. Singh added that recently a ruling party MLA brought a work adjournment motion in Vidhan Sabha alleging corruption and the government is dithering on taking action on its own MLA.
On price rise, Singh said that BJP came to power on the slogan of providing relief from rising prices but instead of any relief, the general public is reeling as prices are at their all time high. He said that during the UPA government the international price of crude was at $ 140 per barrel but the government kept a check on prices of petrol diesel and cooking gas. He said that now when crude is at all time low, the prices of diesel and petrol have hit the ceiling and the cooking gas cylinder which was priced at Rs 400 during UPA regime is costing Rs 800 now. Continuing his diatribe against the government, Singh said that it has failed miserably in natural disaster management. He said that the government has foisted development authorities in the rural areas and the Teerth Purohits are up in arms against the government. Singh claimed that the people are closely watching the action of the government and waiting to bring in a change.
On the issue of ministers claiming that the officers are not listening to them, Singh that it is the responsibility of the government and CM. He said that it appears that the CM is indirectly behind this as he doesn’t want things to become normal, want things to remain entangled and remain aloof from public scrutiny. These episodes show that the government lacks administrative acumen and capability. On the question of internal differences in the Congress party, the PCC president said that there is an internal democracy in the party which prompts leaders to express them but every leader is dedicated towards the party and Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi.
The PCC president claimed that the party has become strong in every constituency and it is ready for the electoral battle in 2022. He said that in the Lok Sabha election of 2019, the major issues concerning the people were relegated to background and nationalism was made a central issue.
On Indo – China relations, the PCC president questioned the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he had claimed that there is no intrusion. He said that if there was no intrusion then why Indian soldiers had to sacrifice their lives in Galwan? He said that instead of fulfilling its promise of doubling the income of farmers, the Modi government has brought such farm laws which the farmers are terming as draconian. He said that after the concerns raised by members in the parliament, the Modi government should have sent the farm bills to select committee for revision. He added that the MSP system should be protected for the benefit of farmers.
Singh said Maharashtra governor’s utterances on state government are against the tradition and constitutional norms and it shows that the jinn of RSS has not died inside the governor.
