SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN: FROM BIMARU TO POPULIST

Nakali(Fake) & Farzi (pseudo) than “Rising” & “ Emerging” MP

Shashidhar.S.Kapur

When Shivraj paratrooped into the CM’s chair most people believed that he’d be a puppet in the hands of RSS and the BJP coterie. For the large part of his first term he remained so. However second term onwards he began asserting himself. Shivraj limited RSS to social cultural affairs and education on the one hand and began dealing with central BJP leadership on relatively even terms. The third term sees him more keen on legacy issues .Let’s get a broad overview term wise.

The headroom for any CM to do quantum work is limited. Yet that little space if utilised well can make all the difference. In BJP it is even less ,being a cadre based outfit and control strings attached to the RSS. The real test is what he does beyond the core constituency and social schemes transcending the vote bank. His performance is evaluated by his executive / cabinet decisions ( his party’s performance by policies and programmes ) and his credibility judged by his humanitarian steps. He’ll have to be rated on going beyond symbolism for those outside core constituency and transcending tokenism for people beyond vote bank. ( Since policies and programmes are not likely to favour them)

When Shivraj came in the expectations were two fold – to get the physical infrastructure in order and to get some grassroots up development in the first phase.He set the direction right – focusing on BSP ( Bijli Sadak Pani ) and introduced many social schemes esp. for women- whereby he was reelected .In the second term the expectations were different – Shivraj was supposed to perform on growth indices and deliver on Human Development indicators – education & health and industry & jobs. (It ought to have been infrastructure & delivery in first term, programmes & administration in the second innings and policy & governance in the third term.)

He began the second phase by making the right noises – holding investors’ meet for the industry , vowing to make agriculture profitable ( interest free loans , agriculture cabinet etc .), providing skills training to youth , making ITI’s as brands , planning rural courts , proposing rural medical courses , sending Ayurveda doctors to villages , teaching English in Vanavasi(tribal) schools ,backing hockey and so on…

At the end of the second term – more industries were shut down than those who invested ; Education was in a shambles ( Digvijay destroyed the primary education , Shivraj made a mess of Higher Studies); health service improved marginally at the tertiary level but primary healthcare deteriorated further ; Agriculture improved though much less than the extent claimed ( Which is a statistical jugglery ) , sports was used mostly as a PR exercise – feting sports stars of other states , Indian hockey team , organising a CM sports meet etc. but not much for sporting culture…All in all, it was more symbolism than substance.

The third term was supposed to be an ideal launch pad for Shivraj ’s legacy issues . However , it ran into rough weather from the outset given that in some quarters a rivalry between him and Modi was projected for the PM candidacy. So when BJP won at the centre ,on the surface it appeared to be a win – win situation for the state but in reality things were different .To begin with Modi stopped the 100 rupees bonus on wheat ( perhaps he was aware that it was a farce); after that the economy slowed down and social sector spending was cut – hitting MP particularly hard and now demonitisation- all this has perhaps made Shivraj yearn for UPA regime.

There are many half baked steps in his innings viz. embarking upon river Linkages – ( Narmada-Shipra and now Ken -Betwa ) without gauging the possible negative fallouts of playing with nature . Besides, there have been many populisms – inviting popular film persons for state festivals and myth creation in the name of Raja Bhoj etc. Perhaps trying the time tested trick of keeping the masses opiate – dumb and numb by engrossing them in superficial , frivolous and sensational .Shivraj keeps the people engaged in massy stuff in the name of socio-cultural activities thereby taking their attention off serious stuff while giving the impression that he is doing a lot. Moreover, there have been a whole lot of grey areas too- coal allocation to Ambani beyond the norm ,forcible land acquisition at Bhujbhuja ; renaming many central schemes under state government’s name – viz. Nirmal gram Yojana into Maryada yojana; rechristening even the cultural programmes of Congress – Lokrang to Bharat Parva.

Many of Shivraj’s actions could well fall under the category of reverse politics -doing centralization of those which ought to be decentralized viz . by organising Panchayats of poor , marginalised and the informal sector. Only the dynamic ,creamy among them make it to these and organise vote banks. Since they are not BJP’s traditional vote bank, these Panchayats serve twin purposes- give the sense of participation to people as also serve as an ideas factory. However , they create powerbrokers among these sections since mostly the creamy among them are able to make it to the Panchayats.

While the delivery of social schemes has been better than Congress the governance which BJP used to tomtom has taken a hit .In Shivraj’s regime it is not merely corruption but plain theft of funds and natural resources. Biggest beneficiaries – have been traders & OBC’s- nothing surprising in that they constitute his traditional constituency and vote bank . However ,the extent is mindboggling -in Shivraj’s government of Karyakartas 15% people have cornered 85% of public funds for – Makaan , Dukan our Khadan.( Land/Houses , Properties and Mines)

Ministers’ work has been clipped by empowered committees. Being a cadre controlled party the lower and middle bureaucracy has almost become dedicated to them. Hence the general impression that bureaucrats control his government.

Shivraj has not hesitated to emulate the perverse traits of other politicians even if they were from opposing parties. For instance , the modus operandi of coopting the opposition leaders was initiated by Arjun Singh ,his disciple Digvijay mastered it – Shivraj seems to have perfected it. In particular , the lower Congress functionaries and regional media have been coopted by obliging them obscenely.

Has it all been running around even to stay in the same place ? Even if there were no government this could’ve been achieved. Why then have a government? – let bureaucracy run it. Incidentally ,one sometimes wonders how does a CM who talks so much and travels so much get any serious work done ? All Independent reports seem to back the suspicion – On most Human Development Indices M.P fares poorly – Biggest Hunger deficit state ;Highest infant mortality, ranked 26th in Education…Overall RBI report puts the state in the most backward category.

Shivraj repeated the mistake of Digvijay –of continuing in the same mode in the second term as in the first – In fact going even further in the same manner rather than changing gears. ( Ideally he should’ve appointed a Deputy CM for welfare programmes / social security schemes and focused on growth agenda in the third term ) Though he managed to create a vote bank among women and built a constituency among farmers, Shivraj ended up being more of a glorified social worker – a survivor, a tinkerer -than a reformer or a leader.

It is too early to write his epitaph but history may judge him as someone who “ Yeda banker Peda Khaya ” ( Gobbled the sweets while pretending to be dumb/simpleton ) and hence remained a leda (garbage).

P.S.-I: It is true to a large extent that Shivraj brought the state from BIMARU to developing stage but it is equally true that he doesn’t have a vision or the caliber to take it the developed category. One doesn’t need to be a genius to know where the state is going. If it continues in the same vein, it is likely to be relegated from the present treadmill state – running in the same place –to moonwalking stage – speed walking all the time yet ending up behind the starting point. Thus it would be in the interest of the state that Shivraj is “ elevated” to National Politics – so that the state may have a fresh outlook – perhaps for a year at least in this term or in the next term if BJP wins it.

P.S –II : Like the case of Punjab , only green revolution is a sure recipe for trouble in the long run. Unless agricultural growth is coupled with the development of industrial and services sector it will not sustain.

P.S –III :Under Shivraj Madhya Pradesh has emerged as a University for BJP and an Ashram for RSS ( Just as Gujarat is its lab)- holding Vaichairk Mahakumbha and Lokmanthan in the state is a testimony to it.

P.S –IV: The biggest quality of Shivraj is his flexibility and premonition. He can sense any issue likely to snowball or any leader emerging as a challenger and takes preventive steps to nip it in the bud; his U- turn on Smart city location in Bhopal , opening foreign liquor shops in rural areas, cornering Kailash Vijayvargiya etc. are cases in point.

P.S –V: In sum it has been the case of over promising and underdelivering ; delivering a little and hyping a lot , promising something else delivering quite another .The label of “ Ghoshanveer “ does have some ring of truth.

P.S –VI: It is true that no allegation of personal corruption could stick onto him even though there were noises. At least a part of it could be due to the fact that he established a direct connect with the masses .

P.S –VII: Overall Verdict: The typical mistake of continuing in the same mode in the second term as in the first – going even deeper in the same directions rather than changing gears. It happened so since to begin with , he came in as a paratrooper and hence is unlikely to have thought things out . Thus there was neither a vision nor a roadmap – only a glorified pracharak in the garb of a leader.

Thus in the long term a generation has been lost and the future mortgaged . So MP still remains an underdeveloped state .Agreed that state has marginally moved out from the BIMARU/ medieval status but it still a far cry from becoming a rising and /or emerging state as is claimed. It is hyperbole – evolutionary development is being touted as revolutionary growth. For that to happen one needs to have a double digit growth for a few decades ( Like China) – which an Agriculture based model cannot achieve. In a sense ,the legacy of Shivraj is going to be of an underutilised opportunity .He may be remembered as someone who brought in the green revolution in MP but then in the same breath would be blamed for underperformance in many sectors. A CM is supposed to work for all sections and sectors prioritywise and in ratio. I wonder if in the near future anybody is going to get three terms as CM .This is what happens when you’re calculating instead of leading . When you focus almost entirely on winning elections rather than on delivering on promises. In that sense he would be remembered as an effective CM rather than a great one. A people’s representative – giving them what they want – rather than their leader.

What does it hold for him in future ? For a three term CM the options are increasingly limited – PM, party President , one of the four core union ministries and if none of this happens then President , vice – president at a later date .Fro time to time rumours of change have surfaced – after Modi came in , post Vyapam , after Simhastha but till date he has managed to thwart challengers – Vijayvargiya by the Pension scam file ; Anil Dave by tagging him an outsider and has tried to make inroads into their constituencies –Indore , Industry and now Narmada. In sum, he has proved to be great survivor but more often than not great survivors aren’t great achievers. Shivraj’s place in history is guaranteed among the longest serving CM’s , not necessarily the finest (Remember Aurangzeb ruled for 50 yrs , longer than the reign of Akbar ).

All in all , Shivraj’s decade long journey has taken the state one step forward two steps backward . It has changed from BIMARU to Nakli( Fake ) and Farzi ( pseudo) than truly “ rising” or “ emerging “ .

***

SECTORWISE

POLITY :
Clipping the ministers by getting also to work done through empowered committees – sets a bad precedent in longterm. Shivraj created a vote bank among women in the first– and a vote constituency among farmers in the second innings. Third term is mostly about hanging on to the post –even if by sidelining potential challengers. The standard BJP template has been mastered by him – wherein RSS is given a freehand in social cultural affairs while CM concentrates all the powers unto himself in other matters. The increasingly shorter Vidhan Sabha sessions and even fewer debates point to a dilution of polity ( Though it is a trend almost nationwide ) .Furthermore, he has not devolved any authority to the local bodies while the promise of setting up a Vidhan Parishad – on which there was a biparty consensus remains unfulfilled. All in all, Shivraj has made himself into an election winning machine rather than a transformatory politician.

Highpoint- Winning three terms
Lowdown – Undermining institutions and conventions.
Grey Areas – Centralising all authority to self.
Half baked – Outsourcing Education and Culture to RSS.
Reverse-Centralising the informal sector .
Perverse-Promoting self in welfare schemes too.
Miscellaneous: Subverting the Congress – by co-opting its workers.
Beyond the core constituency and major vote bank- everything has been mere symbolism & tokenism . Playing the parochial card too- by declaring formation of new districts and Tehsils esp. in Congress’ areas viz. Aagar.
Verdict : A guerilla fighter , glorified bureaucrat , a social performer and an election winning machine.

LAW & ORDER

They cite the example of wiping out dacoit gangs( of late the gangs have resurfaced) but across the state things have worsened ; crimes against women; slave trade ; against weaker sections – that too is an indicator of underdevelopment ; rise of Hindu extremism –M.P has become hot bed of both SIMI & Hindu Extremism; Naxalism is trying to get in. The plea that we’re now recording more crimes doesn’t wash after 10 years.

Highpoint -Elimination of dacoits in Chambal as well as Satna Region.
Low Down- Maximum crimes against women.
Grey Areas- Narcotics trade still a big issue.
Half baked- Police acting as the private army of the BJP / RSS
Reverse- naxal presence in a few districts
Perverse- Hardcore Hindutva and Simi active .
Miscellaneous- Claim of a peaceful state overstated.; Rural courts; initiative in e- courts.;. Fast track courts for corruption ; confiscating property of the corrupt.
Verdict : Situation of law OK but conditions of order disturbing.

GOVERNANCE;

Shivraj –failed to shine in governance too; trying to cover up with awards & symbolisms ; dealing mostly with empowered committees reinforces the impression that bureaucrats dominate control the BJP governments.; Ideally it ought to have been governance & infrastructure law &order in term –I & programmes and delivery in term -II and policy & governance in term III.; Tough drafted legislations such as Public Service delivery Act but on ground impact till date is less than satisfactory. In the third term it has gone from bad to worse as within each ministry – even CM’s office – an RSS man has been posted .Thus the agenda of the unelected is being pushed instead of the manifesto.

Highpoint- Passing the Public service delivery act; progress made in E- governance .
Low down- Maximum amount of ill gotten wealth from the Officers in MP.
Grey Areas- Ruling with the help of a coterie of officers.
Half baked- Allowing RSS a play in administration.
Reverse- Giving a higher role to promotee officers.
Perverse- Lower bureaucracy at the beck and call of RSS.
Miscellaneous- A demoralised higher civil service.
Verdict : Bureaucracy almost entirely politicised.

ECONOMY–

Here too for the lack of a vision , plan and a roadmap it took him nearly ten years to understand that MP should be the hub of MSME. Plan to have more industrial areas along Mumbai Delhi corridor; 26 more industrial hubs envisaged. Perhaps after GST some of the disadvantage of being a landlocked state may be offset. The point having a double digit growth overall or a twenty percent growth in agrarian economy makes little sense when at the end of the day per capita income remains among the lowest in the country as does the divide.
Highpoint- A healthy rate of growth ; Impressive infrastructure growth(roads ,power )

Low down- Distribution of resources lopsided.
Grey Areas- Figures fudged.
Half baked- Neglect of the cooperative sector
Reverse- Promoting crony capitalists.
Perverse- Transferring public resources to private hands under PPP.
Miscellaneous: Sustainability compromised;. 1% (0%)interest rate loan to farmers.;Feeder separation.
Verdict : A mixed record.

EDUCATION

Primary education – Among the worst performing as per ACER /PRATHAM reports .
Secondary education – Among the worst performing in Math and English
Higher education – Vyapam.
Highpoint – Proliferation of technical institutes.
Low down – ACER//PRATHAM reports
Grey Areas –Crony Educationists.
Half baked- Safffron RSS control.
Reverse – Vyapam .
Perverse-RSS backed schools receiving patronage.
Miscellaneous- Teaching English to Vanavasi schools.; Hindi Vishwavidyalaya; Education loan guarantee; starting skill centres at all block levels; making ITI a brand .
Verdict : Highly Farzi(Fraud)- a lost generation. Perhaps the worst sector- a blot.

SPORTS :

Awarded the best department by performance. Having continuity – 5yrs to director sports( Sanjay Chowdhary ). A little more on symbolisms ( as all BJP govts.) but also better delivery than Congress. Shivraj made apersonal long term investment – in Hockey ( At govt. expense). Rural sports –A sports festival where the same village team comes winning right through till state level; sports medicine ,physiotheraphy, video analysis introduced.; Infrastructure improved substantially.

Highpoint- Most medals won in the national games albeit in non- conventional sports.
Low down- Maximum medals won by outside students from other states studying in our state academies.
Grey Areas- No original thought at the policy level.
Half baked-. No long term plan viz. sports culture in toddlers
Reverse- Importing stars from other states to be chief coaches viz. Madan lal, Sushil kumar ,Gopichand , Mansher Singh.
Perverse- Shivraj promoting himself in the name of promoting hockey
Miscellaneous- Holding CM sports meet – now redundant.
Verdict : Mostly Nakali (Fake) improvement.

HEALTH

Primary health – Among the worst performing as per malnutrition reports .
Secondary health – Among the poor performing states
Tertiary health – Still a laggard state.
Highpoint- Proliferation of Medical colleges and Hospitals
Low down- Paucity of doctors to man them.
Grey Areas-Crony medical colleges/ hospitals
Half baked- Biggest hunger deficit state; declining sex ratio.
Reverse-Clinical trials on unsuspecting patients.
Perverse-A hub of fake medicines.
Miscellaneous-A good idea of starting rural medicine was sabotaged by the doctors’/ Pharma Lobby.; sending Ayurveda Doctors to villages.
Verdict : The second worst performing sector after Education. Due to malnutrition future generation has been compromised.

SOCIAL SECTOR

Highpoint-: Plethora of social security schemes; Setting up of Happiness Ministry
Low down- Not enough programmes of community welfare.
Grey Areas- Naming most of the schemes as Mukyamantri Yojana.
Half baked- Many schemes ill conceived.
Reverse- Reversing the decision to digitally transfer funds.(viz. money for Bicycles)
Perverse- Asking the beneficiaries to join BJP.
Miscellaneous-Another sort of freebie culture.
Verdict : Perhaps the biggest success alongwith agriculture and infrastructure development. Many schemes emulated by other states.

CULTURE

Overall policy of supporting popular performing arts. Quantity increased but the quality has dipped – the state fast losing its tag as the hub of cultural activities . Classic replaced by massy, folksy.
Reverse cultural policy of govt. –viz. promoting PT. Jasraj –it is not govt. of M.P’s job to support national icons -that’s left to national govts. /corporates.
Highpoints-Drama school started – June 2011; Reviving Rangmandal.
Low Down – Patronising popular culture disproportionately.
Grey Areas – Promoting pseudo religious in the name of culture.
Half baked- Making some of the activities exclusive rather than inclusive.(viz. Vishwa Hindi Sammellan).
Reverse- Inviting commercial stars (A.R. Rahman) ; supporting those whom the market , national bodies can support (Ratan Thiyam)
Perverse- Drama school doing play with Bihari Lingo and mostly Bihari students.
Miscellaneous – MP losing a bit of its sheen as a centre of classical arts.
Verdict : As expected, one among the better performing sectors esp. due to the range of activities inspite of slipping down.

ENVIRONMENT

Highpoint- A healthy state of forests & wildlife.
Low down- All major water bodies polluted.
Grey Areas- NGT norms flouted
Half baked- Neglect of the ecology.
Reverse- Plundering of mineral resources
Perverse- Environment clearances given in sensitive zones- Sidhi , Betul.
Miscellaneous: Sustainability compromised; Beginning wind & other energy schemes from tribal areas
Verdict : An average record.

***

11 Highpoints

1.Agriculture( Krishi Karman award for 4 years)
2. Forty thousand Km roads. Built.
3. Organizing Simhastha.
4. Organising Global Investors’ summits.
5.Schemes for women empowerment
6. Growth in energy sector.
7.Growth in tourism.
8. Maximum number of Smart cities.
9.Development of forestry and wildlife.
10 Delivery of schemes
11.River Linking projects.

11 Lowdowns
1. Undermining of institutions- Vidhan Sabha.
2. Status of health at rock bottom- Malnutrition, infant mortality, poor sex ratio etc.
3. Crime against women and children the highest in India.
4. Lack of industrial and service sector growth
5. Disempowering of local bodies .
6. Fudging agri –data.
7. Faking sports achievements
8. Saffronisation of the administration.
9. Majoritarianism in society.
10. Degradation of natural resources – mining.
11. Education sector gone from bad to worse .
***

11 Populist Steps
1. Wheat at 1/- per kg and Rice at 2 /- per Kg to the poor.- Mukhyamantri Annapurna Yojana.
2. Vanavasi Kumbh
3. Swarnim Madhya Pradesh Vision.
5.Aao Banayein Madhya Pradesh- Mission.
6. Surya Namaskar in schools.
7. Hitgrahi sammelans – asking the beneficiaries to join BJP
8. Making the singing of Gaurav Gaan with Rashtriya Gaan in
Offices & Schools obligatory.
9. Yuva –panchyat on Vivekananda’s Birthday.
10. Regularising illegal colonies .
11. Ma Tujhe Pranam- visiting borders.

***
11 Scams
1.Vyapam
2. Narmada Rehabilitation.
3. Mining Scam- Ghar , Dukan our Khadan.( Mining. Housing , shops)
4.Crony contractorship- Govt. contracts overwhelmingly to a handful.
5.Simhastha- exponentially inflated numbers and expenses.
6.Dumper Scam
7. Agro Scam
8.Sahara payment Scam
9. Power purchase scam.
10. Land Distribution Scam
11.Middlemen Scam- Relatives , close associates involved..

***
Grey Areas
1.Coal allocation to Ambani-. in Sidhi beyond the terms of contract.
2.Land acquisition by force – Bhujbhuja.
3.Implementing all the central schemes under state govt’s name under UPA – viz. Nirmal Gram into Maryada scheme-also doing rampant corruption in Central programmes while keeping the state run schemes relatively clean.
4.Renaming subtly even the cultural programmes of Congress viz. Lokrang to Bharat Parva.
5.Giving 50 lakhs to Deendayal Shodh Sansathan Delhi – from CM’s discretionary fund.

Half baked Steps
1. Shipra- Narmada Link.
2.Yuva CM swarojgar yojana -loan & training for contractorship etc.,
3. Placement cell in all districts.
4.. Vivekannada Yuva kendras at all districts.

Reverse Actions
1.Doing centralization of those which ought to be decentralized viz . all the poor ,marginalised and the informal sector– by organising their panchayats .
2.Not spending a huge amount of Central funds under UPA viz. in Energy
3.Opposing English – at the Sanskrit sahityotsava at Ujjain; by opposing making it compulsory at UPSC.
4. Allowing Govt. employees to join shakhas.

Perverse Initiatives
1. Subsidy on pilgrimages ; old age tourism.( When Supreme court has scuttled the subsidy on Haj)
2. Govt. doing mass Marriages .
3. Denotifying forests in Pachmari range for Ashramas.
4. Killings of Narendra Kumar(IPS) & Dewan – Soft targets blunting the issues.
5. Profiling of Christians.
6. Going on every temple on any festival-doing religious ceremonies at CM house
7. Geeta included in school texts.

***
Mishaps / Accidents
1. 2013 Ratangarh stampede in Datia district in which 115 people died.
2. 2014blast at Petlawad in Jhabua district in September this year that claimed more than 89 lives, .
3. 2015 Blinding of cataract patients , Badwani.
4. 2016 Encounter of SIMI jail break undertrials.
***

Quantitative Indicators

24 by polls in the state since Shivraj came to power -won 19 and lost 5.
GDP- Near double digit decadal growth – almost throughout higher than the national average
Agricultural growth – Between 10 and 24% during the period.
Roads Built – Nearly 40 thousand Km.

Food Grain Production – Food grain production raised from 166 lakh MT to 450 lakh MT per year.
Power- The state at present is generating 15,500 MW power and claims to be power surplus.
Irrigation-. Irrigation potential enhanced from 7.5 lakh hectares to 36 lakh hectares.
Even if one were to believe government statistics as true – that agriculture which employs 70 percent grew at 20 percent and the state grew at 10 percent . It means that the remaining 30 percent of the population grew at a lower than national average of 7-8 percent .The very fact that road connectivity is still far less than developed states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu , Punjab and per capita income remains among the lowest – much lower than national average shows the figures look impressive since they began on a low base – the reality is still bleak.
P.S : There could be some solace in the fact that MP ranks at the top among the BIMARU states.
***