Zestful and dynamic 11 months of Shinde-Fadnavis government

 

The government led by chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis completed 11 months on May 30. During these 11 months, this government worked twice as efficiently as the Maha Vikas Aghadi government that was in power for two and a half years, from December 2019 to June 2022. But this tenureof the MVA was like a nightmare for the people of Maharashtra. Their chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray, hardly visited Mantralaya, the administrative headquarters of the government. In fact, he used to manage all the government affairs from the comfort of his home, thus failing to build connect with both, his fellow ministers and the citizens.

In his autobiography – ‘Lok Maze Sangati’, Sharad Pawar, the pillar of MVA, also expressed his displeasure about Uddhav Thackeray not going to Mantralaya. The Corona pandemic began in March 2020. During this crisis situation, it was the job of the chief of the state to reach out to people whenever possible but instead only the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and health minister Rajesh Tope at that time maintained direct contact with the government machinery. Using Corona crisis as an excuse, Uddhav Thackeray remained satisfied with his Facebook interactions with the people and this lethargy grossly impacted the government and its functioning. During this same period, he did exhibit his proactiveness, but only in matters of his personal interest. People will recollect how in June 2020 he had proactively issued orders to reinstate Sachin Vaze in police service. Anyway, today my topic isn’t about Vaze or the things he did. What I am going to highlight is the fact that if a state’s chief minister is lackadaisical in his approach, lacks the vision and the will for development, the state lags behind in the path of progress. And Maharashtra witnessed it the harsh way from November 2019 to June 2022.

If we compare the first 11 months of Uddhav Thackeray-led MVAgovernment (November 29, 2019 to October 29, 2020) vis-à-vis the Shinde-Fadnavis’s governance, we will realise that nearly 14,078 GRs have been issued as against 6,539 GRs issued during the tenure of the MVA government. The efficiency of the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government is 2.1 times more which is almost 115 per cent more than the efficiency of the MVA government.

When a policy decision is taken in the cabinet, all its government procedures are fulfilled before the GR is issued. Uddhav Thackeray government had announced financial grant to farmers affected by heavy rains but it did not get credited to their bank accounts till the government was in power. The Shinde–Fadnavis government, on the other hand, immediately initiated the process and so far, more than Rs 10,000 crore has been deposited in these bank accounts over the last 11 months.

The Shinde-Fadnavis government was also quick in disbursing incentive subsidy of Rs 50,000 to farmers who made regular loan repayments. The MVA government also consistently avoided reducing VAT on petrol and diesel thereby relieving the burden of hiked fuel price on the common man whereas the Shinde-Fadnavis government, in their very first cabinet meeting, reduced VAT on petrol and diesel by Rs 5.

The incumbent state government also decided to provide Rs 6,000 per annum to farmers in addition to the Rs 6,000 per annum released by the Modi government. This means that every farmer will receive Rs 12,000 per annum in their bank accounts. Now, this is called a dynamic government. Also, the decision to provide 50 per cent concession to women for ST travel was immediately implemented.

During 2010-11 the Congress-NCP government was in power in the state. At that time Sharad Pawar had got really upset since the issues that were being insisted by the NCP, were not being decided by the then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. At that time, while making a dig at Chavan, Pawar had remarked “is he suffering from decision paralysis”. And now when Uddhav Thackeray-led government was so lethargic why did Pawar not preach any wisdom.

Also, when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister, the state suffered grossly in terms of investments in the industrial sector. Vedanta Foxconn’s semiconductor project went out of Maharashtra only because of Uddhav Thackeray’s passivity. He refused to speed up the process of granting necessary concessions to this company. Saint Tukaram had said, “Tuka mhane ugi rahave, je je hoil tey tey pahave” which means that at times we have to witness everything as it happens in life. And Uddhav Thackeray remained a mute spectator when major projects like Vedanta Foxconn and Tata Airbus were going out of Maharashtra. But the moment Devendra Fadnavis, who was the leader of the Opposition at that time, heard that the project was going to Gujarat, he immediately tried to intervene and called upon the chiefs of this project on April 24, 2021 to his official residence ‘Sagar’ and pleaded to them, “You do not go to Gujarat, I will personally ask the chief minister to intervene and redress your issues.” While the leader of the Opposition was striving to make sure that these crucial projects do not move out of Maharashtra, the government, on the other hand, failed to initiate any action; did not even send a letter to stop them from going out of Maharashtra. Also, when the “Saffron” project moved out of Maharashtra to Hyderabad, Uddhav Thackeray government remained silent. Now, Maharashtra will have to bear its brunt in future.

Later, after Uddhav Thackeray government stepped down from power, the BJP-Shiv Sena government once again, through its decisions and actions, showed how a dynamic and competent government functions. Seeing what the incumbent government has achieved in 11 months, it will not be an exaggeration if I assert that Maharashtra will reap the benefits of this government’s dynamism.

 

(Article Pre-Published in Times of India Online – 05 June 2023)

Keshav Upadhye, Chief Spokesperson