A Wasted
Year
Akhilesh
must make a fresh beginning in UP by ending criminalization of politics.
There seems
little cause for cheer as Akhilesh Yadav, UP’s youngest chief minister,
completes an year in office. Akhilesh had caught the UP along the path of
corruption-free development and progress. At the heart of his election campaign
was his pledge to reinvent and modernize the anachronistic Samajwadi Party
(SP). A welcome assurance indeed, given
that during its earlier sojourn the party had brazenly patronized criminal
elements and promoted lawlessness across UP. That promise of reinvented
governance had placed the SP in power in the state with a triumphant majority.
But
Akhilesh reneged on his promise soon after coming to power. He inducted more
than dozen ministers with criminal records into his cabinet, among them the
infamous Raja Bhaiya, now under suspicion in the murder of a police officer.
Even communal tension in the volatile state escalated with as many as 12 riots
taking place in one year along. Besides, the party’s old guard has continued to
middle in government’s affairs, stymieing much-needed political changes.
It is
incumbent on the chief minister to keep the peace for his own as well as his
government’s credibility. Weeding out criminal elements from his party and
putting an end to criminalization of politics are essential to recasting SP in
a new mould. Only then will it be possible to end the rowdy political culture.
All, however, isn’t lost. There’s still sufficient time for Akhilesh to prove
his sincerity and administrative mettle by turning up around. The most
important challenge now is to clamp down on anti-social elements, even if it
means facing down party elders. Akhilesh must immediately restore law and order
before UP spins totally out of control.
Just
distributing freebies (Laptops Tablets, Kanya Vidya Dhan) you can fool some for
some time. These may win you politically, temporally and is not a permanent
process of development.
State wide
celebration and full page ads in Hindi dailies and National English dailies, spending
crores would not change the public perception and existing “Law and Order”
situation in the state.
