Yogi at the helm

Yogi at the helm

New UP government earns mixed report card in first 100 days
As UP's Yogi Adityanath government celebrates a hundred days in office, its report card is a mixed bag. BJP's electoral sweep in the UP polls earlier this year ¬ where it won a mammoth 312 out of 403 seats ¬ was always going to raise expectations for the incoming administration. Given the size of UP and the breadth of its challenges the Yogi government risks becoming a victim of its own ambitions.
Take for example the law and order situation. The Yogi government, in keeping with BJP's electoral promise, has advocated a zero-tolerance policy towards crimes. However, it's yet to figure out how to deal with fringe elements within its own Sangh Parivar fold who feel emboldened and have been intimidating minorities. If BJP blames the previous Akhilesh Yadav dispensation in the state for shielding criminals belonging to the Samajwadi Party , it can't allow those affiliated to Hindu groups to run amok now. Meanwhile, incidents such as the Saharanpur caste violence between Dalits and Thakurs show that the new administration is far from attaining a firm grip on public order, even as it has pushed initiatives such as anti-Romeo squads that have been criticised for moral policing.
Plus, in hyping the issue of cow protection and conducting drives against illegal slaughterhouses without providing avenues for regularisation, the new administration is only pushing the meat trade underground and providing a fillip to vigilantism as well as crime. Such measures also disrupt the rural farm economy to which trade in animals is intrinsic. In this context, the Yogi government's decision to give a Rs 36,500 crore farm loan waiver puts additional pressure on UP's stretched exchequer. Instead, Adityanath must focus on pro-market moves that not only help the farmer in a sustainable way but also spare the exchequer.
Additionally, the Yogi government's propensity to investigate an increasing number of Akhilesh-era schemes can be fraught. Corruption, indeed, must be unearthed and fought. But the impression mustn't go round that investigations are motivated by political vendetta. That said, the Yogi government's anti-land mafia task force to recover public land and help those whose properties have been confiscated by criminals has progressed well. In fact, the new administration should identify and focus on a few such areas where it can deliver results, rather than biting off more than it can chew.