In competitive politics which is at its sharpest, politicians seldom tell the people that what is expected is not possible. They promise the moon when on the stump but seldom deliver. It is not theirs to disappoint people even on the most popular policy. The fear is of losing votes.
Breaking from this mould, a politician in Maharashtra, with not much success behind him, has emerged on the scene with his hard talk. He is the founder of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Raj Thackeray.
He has had the gumption to tell the women of the state that they had better contend with the likely reality of not getting their monthly stipend of Rs 1,500. They may not get it once a government is formed after November 23, regardless of which party forms it.
Ladli Behna Yojana
The monthly stipend is provided to a woman whose annual income is less than Rs 2.5 lakh per annum under the Ladli Behna Yojana (Dear Sister Project) and the Eknath Shinde-led government has promised to double it to Rs 3,000 per month. Lest election preoccupation disrupts this flow, Maharashtra paid the November stipend a month ahead.
The coffers would have run dry by then, Raj Thackeray contends, and there “will be no money to transfer”. Also, he asked Marathas to forget any Maratha reservation for it was not in the hands of the State government. It required constitutional amendments and was “not practical”. Dreams are being sold to win an election. So beware, he has stated matter-of-factly.
Reservation for Marathas
No other political party has touched upon the Maratha issue except pussyfoot around it. Sharad Pawar, easily the tallest leader in Maharashtra despite his political travails, has said the quota limit should be raised to 75 percent of the reservations. Quota activist Manoj Jarange has tried to make quotas the focus of this election. He merited only politicians’ visits asking him to go easy.
Maverick Jarange is furious enough to want to oust the government and has started asking for applications from Dhangars (a sub-caste of Marathas) and Marathas to contest the elections in opposition mainly to the BJP. It may not work out but he may ask Marathas not to vote for, especially, the BJP. He has been on eight hunger strikes. Marathas see him as a leader; to the ruling politicians, he is a problem.
Except for finance minister Ajit Pawar’s assertion that having delivered eight budgets so far, he knows the state’s finances are not in a position to bankroll the Ladli Behna Yojana. His finance department has been noting on files that the profligacy would lead to a crisis with rising debts. To Eknath Shinde, this scheme is a “game-changer.”
Congress has not objected to it, but in fact, wants to end it as a scheme involving a stipend by direct transfer. It would be a “means of empowering women” – they have not yet explained how. The significance of the scheme has been understood by Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena which has announced it would not do away with it but improve upon it.
Worried Sharad Pawar
Sharad Pawar is worried about its implications but in an Opposition alliance, it may be difficult to veto it. Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena wants to retain the scheme and if possible, improve upon it. The public, especially women across party divides seem to want to vote to retain the scheme.
What is worrying is that the lame-duck government has been issuing government resolutions (GRs) in a flood and the financial implications have not been added up. Many vital things have been given away, like salt pan land parcels to Adanis to rehabilitate Dharavi slum dwellers. Land is scarce and expensive – probably the most expensive commodity.
The hurry and flurry have been so visible that they announced over 100 GRs even after the model code of conduct came into force. The State Election Officer has asked they be taken down from the government’s website and not be implemented till the elections are over. The government has not even been apologetic about it.
Many decisions like extending guarantees to cooperative sugar mills run by the favoured few of the regime, cheap handover of lands to politicians, and many such decisions were opposed by the Finance Department as the state is under mounting debt but were overruled by the cabinet. There may be quite a large number of them that have not caught the eye of advocates of financial prudence yet.
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