By L S Herdenia
BHOPAL: Three developments in Madhya Pradesh have damaged the prestige of the Bhartiya Janata Party. They are: 1. Decision of the state government to place the report of judicial commission headed by Justice (Retd.) N. K. Jain about some alleged malpractices by Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP national general secretary when he was mayor of Indore; 2. Disclosure about the obscene acts of a senior BJP leader, and 3. Revelation in the economic survey that Madhya Pradesh continues to be a BIMARU state.
It may be mentioned here that a judicial commission was constituted to probe into the allegation of malpractices in the disbursement of pensions to poor and elderly women by the Indore Municipal Corporation, when Kailash Vijayvargiya was the mayor. In 2009, state government, headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, ordered an inquiry into the irregularities in the disbursement of pension. Subsequently, the scope of inquiry extended to cover the entire state. Retired High Court Judge N. K. Jain was entrusted the task of inquiry. Jain commission was appointed in the year 2009 and it submitted its report in 2012. The commission found massive frauds in the disbursement of old and destitute pension in the entire state. But the report was not placed in the Vidhan Sabha. The Chief Minister Kamal Nath has now decided to place it in the Vidhan Sabha. But to every body’s shock it was found that the report had been stolen. Not only commission’s report but action taken report was also stolen. According to reliable sources, Justice (Retd) N. K. Jain has provided the copy of the report to the government, which was in his possession.
According to sources, during inquiry it was found that more than one lakh recipients were bogus. Despite that more than Rs. 2 crore was being paid only on papers. During the enquiry more than Rs. 24 crore came back to exchequer. Thus it was a massive case of defalcation. The report when presented will prove that many authorities of local bodies including Kailash Vijayvargiya are guilty. It may be mentioned here that Vijayvargiya is BJP’s in-charge of West Bengal and credit is being given to him for the revival of the BJP in West Bengal.
The BJP suffered another setback when it was revealed that Madhya Pradesh continues to be a BIMARU state. It may be mentioned here that former BJP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan used to claim that because of his efforts Madhya Pradesh was pulled out from the category of BIMARU state. Many BJP leaders including Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah used to shower praise on Chouhan for his outstanding achievement.
The economic survey of Madhya Pradesh for 2018-19 paints a gloomy picture of the state on vital indices, including health, education and poverty. In poverty and malnutrition the state stands a shocking 27th among the 29 states, and 23rd in education.
“Poverty eradication is the biggest challenge for MP” — the survey tabled in Vidhan Sabha a day before the annual budget, observed.
Madhya Pradesh had 31.65 per cent poor in 2017-18, much higher than the national average of 21.92 per cent — the survey says. Niti Aayog puts MP only above Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Quoting the National Family Health Survey, the Economic Survey says: “Forty two percent children below the age of 5 are stunted, 25.8 per cent children are wasted and 42.8 per cent children are underweight. Malnutrition among children is extremely disturbing”. Following the monitoring of sustainable development goals, the NITI Aayog said MP stands third from the bottom.
It is only a shade better than Bihar and Jharkhand in the hunger index. The major challenge is to bring nutrition at par with the national average” the survey says.
MP has slipped in education as well the economic survey noting, “The yawning gap of literacy rate of national average of 52,2 per cent and that of the state was 44.7 per cent in 1999 was bridged in 2001 when the national and state rates stood at 64.8 per cent and 63.7 per cent respectively. But today the state stands on 23rd position in the list of 29 states on literacy”.
Congress said the economic survey has exposed the former BJP government. Finance minister Tarun Bhanot said, “If the BJP government was not able to deliver basic facilities to people in 15 years of its rule, then where did the money go”.
BJP suffered another setback when obscene chat between an important party leader Pradeep Joshi and a Bhartiya Janata Yuwa Morcha activist became viral. Joshi held the post of divisional secretary of Ujjain division in the party.
After the chat on Facebook’s messenger went viral, state BJP organising general secretary Suhas Bhagat ordered Joshi to leave divisional headquarters at Lokshakti Bhavan. Sources told media persons that Joshi left for his house in Indore after receiving a call from Bhopal on Sunday evening. Since then he has been incommunicado.
In the chat allegedly between Joshi and the BJYM worker that has gone viral both have used vulgar words and sentences with sexual connotation. The duo is alleged to have uploaded a few highly objectionable photographs. It is said that this BJYM worker was a frequent visitor to Joshi’s residence at party office and even used to accompany him during tour programs.
Soon after the conversation surfaced in public domain, the party leadership distanced itself from the emerging controversy and immediately divested Joshi of party’s responsibility.
Joshi had returned to Ujjain on Sunday after conducting Amarnath Yatra. He had gone with a group of party workers, including an MLA, ex-MLA and some functionaries. It was his second posting as divisional organising secretary here. He had earlier worked in the same capacity 10 years ago. He had also worked as divisional organising secretary of Gwalior for four years. Seemingly embarrassed BJP leaders have gone silent on the entire episode. Not only State chief Rakesh Singh, but even Ujjain chief Vivek Joshi was also not available for comment. (IPA Service)