People-savvy administration driving BJP to power
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: March 12, 2022 -

OUTCOME of the assembly elections in four of out five states leaves nothing to doubt that the BJP has been gaining strength and successfully moving towards its ultimate goal of uprooting the Congress party.

By retaining power in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh and cruising to comprehensive victories in Uttarakhand and Manipur while ensuring that Goa remains in its kitty along with the allies, the saffron party is also heading towards its goal of becoming the undisputed national party.

On the contrary, the Congress think-tank will have to make some serious efforts to keep afloat its national party status for it is now in power only in the states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

In UP, where the Gandhi siblings Rahul and Priyanka carried out extensive campaigning, victory of the saffron party is being attributed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's unshrinking popularity and the no-nonsense administration of chief minister Yogi Adityanath in the last five years.

Even though the party failed in its endeavour to make a mark in Punjab, where the anti-farmers bill protest was most intense, it would be relieved that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has swept aside the Congress and is poised to rule there with a comfortable three-fourths majority.

The AAP's rise outside its Delhi turf with an unprecedented mandate in Punjab and a toehold in Goa where it bagged two seats would hurt the interest and electoral prospects of the Congress party more than the BJP for the latter's primary focus was to ensure that there were no anti-incumbency factor in the three states it ruled.

While declining stature of the Congress as a national party is believed to be the main reason for losing power in Uttarakhand and inability to overcome the setback suffered in Goa five years back when it couldn't form the government despite emerging as the single largest party, in Manipur's context chief minister N Biren could be given the credit for the party's absolute majority.

Among others, chief minister Biren has been making all efforts to cement connectivity with the masses through implementation of welfare policies and regularly assessing public grievances in-spite of outbreak of the coronavirus virus affecting expeditious execution of planned projects and policies.

While Kejriwal hailed his party's performance in Punjab as a 'revolution', chief minister Biren could rest assured that some of his people-friendly initiatives reaped success in the form of votes for the party.

As elections results are considered the people's stamp of approval for good governance, the chief minister would certainly be inspired to dedicate self and purposefully channelise the government's resources to address the shortcomings faced in the previous term.

Despite sceptical commentaries from the opposition leaders, N Biren has been leaving no stone unturned to main law and order, plug the chasm between the people of the valley and the hills, and has been successful in calming nerves of the.various civil societies which made repeated attempts to sabotage smooth administration.

Thus, with exception of possible internal tussle over the top post, it seems that chief minister Biren is all set to helm the affairs in the state and make the people believe that the second term of BjP-led government will bring significant socio-economic changes.