It has been two years since the government of the Grand Alliance came in the state. But till now not a single leader has spoken about the progress of the state nor about the development works to be done in the state. Simply criticizing the government at the Center has become their one-point agenda.
Maharashtra, in the last two years, that is, ever since the government came to power, has been witnessing anarchy – rising instances of corruption, government officials being implicated for demanding ransom, delays in work on the metro, arrests of former ministers, Highest number of deaths due to atrocities against women and Covid-19. And therefore it would not be unreasonable to say that the three-party coalition government is the biggest traitor of Maharashtra.
Leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government reacted sharply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Parliament. These leaders started defaming the Bharatiya Janata Party by calling it ‘anti-Maharashtra’. But the fact is that it is the Maha Vikas Aghadi government that has betrayed Maharashtra on several occasions in the last 26 months since coming to power. And the leaders of this MVA government are competing to criticize the Prime Minister to make the people forget their betrayal.
Thus, the aim of this article is to highlight the wrongdoings of this coalition government after coming to power in November 2019.
In a recent incident, the Supreme Court slammed the Maha Vikas Aghadi government for suspending 12 Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs for a year. Terming it ‘unconstitutional’, the Supreme Court said suspension of MLAs can be maintained for a few weeks but suspending legislators for a year amounts to punishment to the voters who elect these MLAs. The court had said that it was a betrayal of the voters who had voted for their representative for a period of five years. The suspension of these 12 MLAs is like depriving the voters of these 12 constituencies for a year.
On several occasions the government failed to provide relief to the tenants of the state. Farmers were badly affected by natural calamities like heavy rains, cyclones and unseasonal rains after the coalition government came to power. Instead of reaching out to them with a relief package, the government failed to provide even the basic assured minimum compensation.
Significantly, before coming to power, both Uddhav Thackeray and Ajit Pawar were of the opinion that farmers should be given an assistance of Rs. also failed to pay Rs.10,000 per hectare to the ‘Mr. Sanjay Raut, who will you blame for this betrayal?’ Raut who is known for writing his views on various subjects under his column ‘Rokthok’ needs to clarify whether the government can now be called the ‘biggest anti-national’.
In another case, the state government had deposited crores of rupees from the people in the name of Corona Relief Fund. However, recently the government admitted that barely 25 per cent of it was spent. While people are still suffering due to the huge economic crisis, the remaining Rs 600 crore is lying unutilized in the treasury. The Thackeray government which is keeping a close watch on the PM Cares Fund and seeking help has stopped this money, in which the Lokayukta should intervene and investigate the reasons for keeping the money back.
Also during the pandemic period, Maharashtra was the only state to record the maximum number of cases, the highest number of deaths, the highest number of infections, and the loss of thousands of lives due to the corrupt practices of the government. The ruling government made the best use of this opportune time.
The Thackeray government, which was trying to hide its every failure by pointing fingers at the central government, failed to take forward the help given to the poor and thus the needy had to starve. The Chief Minister, who preferred to stay indoors even during the crisis of the epidemic, did not even go to the ministry and put the responsibility of facing the crisis on the citizens, due to which they had to suffer. How can one best describe this behavior towards the people of Maharashtra?
Also the relief announced by the Thackeray government did not reach the beneficiaries. In such a situation, the question arises that who deposited this money? The government also failed to provide the assistance received from the Centre, and as a result many families went hungry. What measures did the government initiate from the Rs 2,000 crore provided by the Center under the Disaster Relief Fund?
The Thackeray government failed miserably in curbing corruption even during the pandemic period, when the people of Maharashtra were facing severe economic crisis. Corruption was rampant during this period – corruption in availability of plastic bags needed to cover bodies, corruption in PPE kits, black marketing of ventilators and drugs like remdesivir, lack of oxygen, uneven vaccine distribution and stockpiling, quality health facilities Corruption in setting up of COVID centers had reached its peak. At such critical times, the Chief Minister had locked himself inside the house and kept repeating his slogan ‘Mera Parivar Meri Responsibility’.
The central government had provided food grains worth Rs 4,592 crore to Maharashtra which included wheat worth Rs 1,750 crore, rice worth Rs 2,620 crore, pulses worth Rs 100 crore and Rs 122 crore for migrant workers. A plan was made to provide free food grains to the poor and Rs 3,800 crore was deposited in the bank accounts of 86,000 beneficiaries including farmers, widows, disabled and senior citizens in Maharashtra.
The central government also reduced the fuel tax. But the coalition government ignored the demand for reduction of VAT on fuel. While 25 states have reduced VAT, Maharashtra is yet to reduce VAT citing reasons for the poor economic condition in the state. While the coalition government refused to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel, they were ready to reduce the excise duty on imported Scotch whisky by 150 per cent. Is the coalition government no longer worried about its coffers?
The chief minister also waived off the fine imposed on the building of MLA Pratap Sarnaik, but did not come forward to address the grievances of the employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
Around 50 MSRTC employees committed suicide. Instead of working towards amicably resolving their strike issues, the government resorted to arbitrariness.
The anti-education policy of the three-party coalition government has put the careers of thousands of aspiring students at stake. Thousands of students aspiring to make a career in the health sector suffered when the government entrusted a fraud agency with the responsibility of conducting the exams, resulting in a huge mess in these exams. Cases of paper leaks and corruption were also reported in MHADA recruitment examinations. Even the issue of OBC and Maratha reservation was not handled by the government efficiently. Is it unreasonable to complain that the government has betrayed the people of Maharashtra?
The people of Maharashtra are not nave to not realize the failure and incompetence of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, which has failed to provide them relief, but only pointed fingers at the Center to hide their incompetence. While pointing fingers at the Center may give some good publicity to the coalition government, there is no doubt that these three parties will emerge as ‘anti-Maharashtra’ in the eyes of the people.
(The author is the Chief Spokesperson of Maharashtra BJP)
Disclaimer
The views expressed above are those of the author.
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