BJP wakes up to realities in rural UP

Lucknow: Ground realities have started hitting the ruling BJP in the face in Uttar Pradesh since the past one week when chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his ministerial colleagues started visiting the rural areas and spending nights in villages.

The BJP, which believed till now that their government was ushering in “Ram Rajya” in UP, is now waking up to the grim reality that their “raj” is no different from that of previous regimes.

When Mr Adityanath visited Pratapgarh last week, he convened a chaupal of the local people. He wanted to know the number of people who had ration cards and only five hands went up. A furious chief minister summoned the officials who told him that they had been recently posted and their predecessors were to be blamed.

In Amroha, the officers told the chief minister that 90- per cent of the houses in ODF villages had toilets. The local minister Chetan Chauhan and the local legislators, however, said that more than 50 per cent houses did not have toilets.

The officials also lied to the chief minister about ration cards and officials demanding bribe for the same.

Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma held a chaupal in Sarojini Nagar Assembly segment in Lucknow. The people complained to him about overflowing drains, pot-holed roads and poor health services. Sensing trouble, a number of officials including the chief medical officer (CMO), stayed away from the chaupal

In the dozen odd constituencies that the chief minister and his colleagues have toured in the past one week, there has been a flood of complaints about lack of basic amenities, delay in implementation of government schemes and rampant corruption in the administration.

There have also been complaints of land grabbing by the local mafia which indicates that the anti land grabbing task force has not been working properly.