Lucknow: At 6am, the crossing near the UP chief minister’s residence is throbbing with activity. More than a 600-700 people from all corners of the state wait patiently for their turn. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s residence at 5, Kalidas Marg is emerging as the new citadel for those in trouble.
Without fail, the chief minister has been holding his “janata darshan” for almost three to four hours every morning. On the days he is out of Lucknow, the officers are directed to accept the applications and note down the details. Yogi’s janata darshan offers immediate relief and people invariably come out of the venue with a smile on their faces.
All officers and security personnel are directed to treat the people with respect and dignity and not to turn away any complainant. “The people are made to sit on chairs while the chief minister goes from person to person, taking applications and listening to their woes. In maximum cases, he orders immediate action—whether it is financial assistance for patients or for marriages. He is also strict about cases related to police atrocities,” said an officer on duty.
In the past one month the chief minister has received an estimated 26,000 complaints and requests. Of these, 12, 083 complaints are related to the police department alone. The Lucknow zone has had 2,449 complaints while Varanasi follows with 1,602 complaints. Cases of land grabbing also abound in the yogi’s janata darshan. and the culprits in most cases are Samajwadi leaders.
In the past three weeks, the chief minister has been beset with complaints of triple talaq from women who have been victims of the practice. The chief minister has now diverted all the complaints to UP minister for women’s welfare Rita Bahuguna Joshi.
The “janata darshan”, initially called the “janata darbar”, was a practice initiated by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2003 but was discontinued in the Mayawati regime. Mr Akhilesh Yadav revived the practice but lost interest in it after the first few months.
According to UP BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak, the crowds at the janata darshan are a reflection on the poor governance of the previous Akhilesh government. “The thousands who turn up to meet the chief minister are an indication of the fact that the governing system had stopped working at the district level”, he said.
A senior minister, meanwhile, said that the chief minister has decided to sift through the complaints. Officials in districts that throw up maximum complaints will be held accountable. “We want a system where maximum complaints get addressed at the district and tehsil level. When the crowds at the janata darshan begin dwindling, we will understand that the system has started working,” he said.
