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| PM Modi's Bihar package evokes sharp reaction | | J&K not an election-bound State | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 19: BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are desperate to win the coming Assembly elections in Bihar. They do not want the people to replicate Delhi in Bihar. In the last Delhi Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had decimated the BJP by capturing 67 out of 70 seats. The BJP had to remain content with a paltry three seats. Earlier, the tally of the BJP was 32 and it was the single largest party in the Assembly. The BJP performed very poorly despite the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed several election rallies and led the party from the front. The Delhi defeat had left him and the party bosses crest-fallen. They do not want similar results in the crucial Bihar. For, they believe, and perhaps rightly, that a defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections would make their detractors within the party up their ante against them and challenge their leadership. Of course, the defeat of the BJP in Bihar would be the personal defeat of PM Modi and Amit Shah and that's the reason they are putting in their all and using all means to win the Assembly elections.
On Tuesday, PM Modi announced a whopping Rs 1.25 lakh crore package for Bihar while addressing an official function. Notwithstanding the fact that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar didn't commend the package saying it contained nothing new, an impression immediately gained ground in Bihar and elsewhere in the country that the Prime Minister announced a massive financial package to improve the poll prospects of the BJP. "The Prime Minister auctioned Bihar for votes," he said during the press conference to call the Prime Minister's bluff. There are reasons to believe that his whole announcement was politically motivated or it was calculated to purchase the Bihari voters using the tax-payers money.
The announcement evoked a very strong reaction from Jammu & Kashmir as well with some of the flood victims in Jammu and Srinagar saying that "Jammu & Kashmir is not Bihar and that had there been Assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir, the Prime Minister would have surely announced a financial package to motivate the voters in favour of the BJP". "Solemn promises held out by the Union Government and Jammu & Kashmir Government on reaching out to people who lost their houses and business establishments in the devastating September floods in 2014 haven't been delivered," said Rakesh Kumar, a University student. Another University student, Pawan Bali, said, "The flood victims in Jammu & Kashmir will have to wait for another five years or so to get some relief, as the next Assembly election in the State would be held only in 2020". Many flood victims shared this view and accused the Prime Minister of not doing anything to mitigate their hardships.
Even a "senior" government official on Tuesday expressed his disgust over the manner in which the Prime Minister had dealt with Jammu & Kashmir. A report from Kashmir quoting the said senior official in the Jammu & Kashmir Government said, "There has been no commitment from Government of India to provide a separate package for rehabilitation of flood victims and Rs 44000-crore package sought by the State for carrying out the reconstruction program has been 'dumped'. A few months ago there were 'discussions' going on between New Delhi and the State on preparation of a roadmap to undertake the reconstruction program in both public and private sectors. That is it… We haven't heard anything more".
It bears recalling that soon after the devastating floods devastated parts of Jammu region and Kashmir Valley, the then Omar Abdullah Government prepared a "loss memo of Rs 44000 crore" and submitted the same to the Government of India hoping it would accept the request and help the State Government to undertake rehabilitation and reconstruction programme, but New Delhi returned the same to the State Government terming it "ill-prepared" and "exaggerated". The PDP also expressed almost an identical view. "One of the reason we joined hands with BJP was that Jammu & Kashmir would get adequate funding to undertake the rehabilitation and reconstruction programme. But the Centre's stand on the issue has come as big disappointment," a senior PDP leader was quoted as saying.
Ever since then, the State Government has been urging New Delhi to announce a separate financial package for the relief and rehabilitation of the flood victims, but nothing has moved New Delhi. The statement of the senior Government official that said "there has been no commitment from Government of India to provide a separate package for rehabilitation of flood victims and Rs 44000-crore package sought by the State for carrying out the reconstruction program has been dumped" should put things in perspective and establish that the BJP-led NDA Government has nothing to do with the flood victims. |
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