Yogi faces uphill task in new innings

After the BJP’s spectacular victory in the recently-concluded assembly elections, political pundits are wondering if the saffron party’s magical run that started in 2014 will continue in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.In his second consecutive innings as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath is up against a bigger challenge.

Firstly, it would be a tough test to meet the voters’ expectations and fulfil the promises of the party’s ‘Sankalp Patra’ or manifesto. At the same time, Yogi will face a strongerOpposition inside the assembly and outside. The Samajwadi Party, which bolstered its strength in the house manifold, is already showing an aggressive stancewith SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and partyveteran Azam Khan giving up their Lok Sabha seats and deciding to adorn the Opposition benches in the UP assembly.

Apart from the power play within the BJP, Yogi Adityanath has five major challenges ahead he will have to tackle before 2024.

Stray cattle: Stray cattle was a major issue in UP so much so that halfway through the election, even PM Narendra Modi had to promise to the voters to make a policy for the abandoned animals. In fact, UP spent more than Rs. 400 crores in just three years on stray cattle, but the ground reality remained grim.

There is a claim of protection of more than 9 lakh animals through 6,000 cow shelters in the state, but the death of cows in Kanha Upvan and Goshalas is not ending. The officials often take more interest in suppressing the news of the death of cows than preserving the animals.

Implementation of manifesto: BJP leaders had been emphasizing on the welfarist face of the party in election meetings. Now for the implementation of ‘Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra’ issued before the election, UP will need an additional Rs. 55,000 crores. The promise of free electricity for irrigation to farmers, free roadways travel for women above 60 years of age, Rs 1,500 pension for differently-abled, widows and senior citizens will also have to be fulfilled.

It is also not easy to fulfil the promise of increasing the financial assistance under Mukhyamantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana from Rs. 15,000 to Rs.25,000, and clearing the dues of sugarcane farmers within 14 days. More than Rs.5,000 crore dues of sugarcane farmers are still pending.

Employment: Discontent is rising among the youth due to lack of employment opportunities. According to the report of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, 29.72 lakh unemployed people are looking for jobs in UP. Of these, 19.34 lakh are in the age group of 20 to 24 years. In the last year of the SP rule, that is in 2017, the number of unemployed was just 9.93 lakh. Many jobs were lost during the Covid period. According to a report, the number of people working in UP has decreased by about 16 lakhs.

Old pension scheme: The BJP was seen cornered on the restoration of the old pension scheme. The scheme affects about 28 lakh government employees, and its effect can be gauged from the votes of the postal ballot. From the postal ballot, the SP got 51.5% votes and the SP alliance also saw a lead in 304 seats. It is clear that a major chunk of government employees went with the Samajwadi Party in the hope of old pension scheme. In Chief Minister’s district Gorakhpur itself, the BJP got an edge in only one out of nine assembly seats.

Before the Lok Sabha elections, this issue is also challenging because Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have announced restoration of old pension.

Law and order: Yogi Adityanath’s image was made of ‘bulldozer baba’ for crackdown on mafia, but the opposition always slammed the government for being soft on criminals of a particular caste. Effective control over unbridled bureaucracy and autocratic police is also a big challenge.

According to the NCRB report, 49,385 cases of crime against women were registered in 2020, which is more than the cases registered in 2016.

(This was first published in National Herald on Sunday)