Yogi’s white paper harps on failures of previous regimes, mum on achievements

The Yogi Adityanath-le BJP government in Uttar Pradesh on Monday released a ‘white paper’ on the misrule of previous Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party regimes, a day before it completed six months in office.

The irony wasn’t lost on observers, as the Yogi government targetted its predecessors instead of highlighting its own achievements.

When quizzed by National Herald on the logic of harping on the failures of previous state administrations rather than reflecting on his own government’s performance, CM Yogi said, “I am releasing this white paper today to let you know about the legacy I have inherited from the previous government. I will come back to you with achievements within a day or two.”

Yogi Adityanath, the hardline monk-turned-politician, was sworn in as UP’s CM on March 19, 2017.

Critics of the government often accuse the Yogi Adityanath administration of failing to come to terms with governance, in the face of worsening law and order situation, failing health care and a long list of other broken promises.

What has added to the woes of Yogi is the weight of people’s expectations that he has failed to fulfil, after having come to power with a massive mandate of 325 seats in the 403-member Assembly.

The white paper throws light on financial health of UP from 2003-04 to 2016-17 – the period when the BSP and SP governments were in power. When asked if the government would also release a white paper for the period between 1997-2002, which saw three BJP CMs at the helm of UP politics, Adityanath seemed to have been caught on the wrong foot.

“If you want to see the financial health during that period, my government could provide the same. But the white paper released today talks only about BSP and SP regime.”

The 24-page white paper mentions corruption in different departments, including PWD, cane and sugar development, health, excise, education and police. It also talks about poor law and order situation during the period when police didn’t lodge FIRs.

Opposition parties were unstinting in their criticism of the Yogi government.

Senior Congress leader Mahroof Khan remarked, “This CM is driving the car by looking at the rear-view mirror. This government does not have achievements to share with people and therefore he is only talking about the failures of the previous governments.”

Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary attacked the Yogi government over the white paper, challenging them to compare Yogi’s performance during the first six months with that of Akhilesh Yadav’s first 180 days in office.

“We had initiated schemes during that period which manifested in construction of the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and drew the blueprint of Janeshwar Mishra Park,” he said.