By L S Herdenia
BHOPAL: While the Madhya Pradesh Congress is making all out efforts to strengthen party organization, the state government is facing serious financial crisis. The Congress has decided to hold a huge party conclave at Jabalpur. Jabalpur has a history. It was here that during freedom struggle at an annual meet of the party in which Subhash Bose defeated Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Mahatma Gandhi said his defeat is my defeat.
The state Congress is scheduled to hold massive party meet on 9th and 10th August. The party president and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi will attend the two sessions. Prior to Jabalpur meet, the party will also meet at Pachmarhi. While Jabalpur meet will be attended by selected party leaders. Pachmarhi meet will expect larger participation.
It may be mentioned that the Congress has been suffering defeats in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha election. In Madhya Pradesh, Chindwara Lok Sabha seat was the solitary constituency which Kamal Nath used to win since 1980. In view of defeat In Vidhan Sabha the party has decided to concentrate on grass root organisation. In 2019 the party won the Vidhan Sabha but it was BJP which unseated Congress by defection. The party at Pachmarhi meet will discuss strategy to get back dominance in both Lok Sabha seats and Vidhan Sabha. Decisions at Pachmarhi will be taken in the light of deliberations in the recent Ahmedabad meet.
The Jabalpur conclave will adopt what is being described as Mission three. Mission three means strategy for three years. Strategy will focus on tribal, Dalits seats.
Meanwhile it is learnt that the M.P. government will raise a loan of Rs. 5,000 crores on May 6, pushing its total debt beyond Rs 4.26 lakh crore more than the state’s annual budget of Rs 4,21,032 crore. This will be the government’s first borrowing in the current financial year.
A notification for the fresh loan was issued on Thursday. As of March 31, the state’s outstanding debt stood at Rs 4,21,740.27 crore. The government maintains that such borrowings are essential for funding development projects and schemes across the state.
Consent of the central government has been obtained for the floatation of this loan as required by Article 293 (3) of the Constitution. Loans taken from the central government and from other sources were mainly utilised for development of the state and for the creation of remunerative assets such as construction of irrigation dams, improvement of transport services, grant of loans to third parties like cultivators, local bodies, loan to power generation, power transmission among others.
MP has more than five percent of the total debt in the country. Total outstanding liabilities of state governments in India was Rs 93,93,317.5 crore. In it, Rs 4,80,976.0cr was total liability of MP, as per RBI at March end (budget estimates 2025). MP stands 9th position in the country in outstanding liabilities.
Despite the rising loan burden, the government has not hesitated in buying a state plane, new cars for ministers and renovation of ministers’ bungalows. On July 10, the MP government cleared a proposal to buy a jet plane worth over Rs 230 crore. Among the major financial responsibilities of the government is the ‘Ladli Behna’ scheme that needs over Rs 1,550 crore every month.
The BJP and its affiliated organizations have launched a massive campaign against what they call love Jihad. They have identified some Muslims youth who are involved in this racket. The RSS has swung into action after the incidents of Love Jihad in the state capital. The organisation is gearing up to launch a massive campaign against such incidents.
The Sangh recently organised an agitation against Love Jihad through women under the banner of Sakal Hindu Samaj. Senior RSS office-bearers held a meeting over the issue on Saturday. They are going to organise another meeting on Sunday.
The organisation will press Swayamsevaks (volunteers) into a mass awareness campaign. The volunteers will go to every house and speak to the girls’ parents. They will advise the girls and their parents not to fall into any trap. If there is any such incident, the girls should inform the organisation. The RSS is also searching for the Love Jihad cases. A helpline, named Nari Shakti, has been set up. The organisation has also asked its outfits to collect information about the Love Jihad cases.
The Sangh is also collecting information about those educational institutions where Hindu girls study. They are keeping an eye on those places where Hindu girls visit. The RSS volunteers will also launch campaigns in these organisations. The Sangh plans to hold talks with various communities. The purpose is to stop such incidents through mass awareness campaigns. According to the Sangh office-bearers, the people target the girls of lower-class and lower-middle-class families. They plan to launch a campaign in small slums.
According to RSS office bearer Dinesh Jain, the organisation plans to launch a campaign to arrest the Love Jihad incidents. “We can stop such incidents by raising awareness in the society,” Jain said. The Sangh’s Kutumb Prabodhan event is underway. The volunteers will discuss with people how to stop such incidents. The Sangh is also working on other programmes against Love Jihad. But many observers fear that the campaign against love jihad may take a communal turn. (IPA Service)
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