Has Akhilesh Yadav proved himself true to people’s expectations in his first year of governance?

Anil Narendra

Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party has completed one year in power in Uttar Pradesh. Its Government has completed one year in office on 15th March. Though a period of one year is not enough to judge the performance of any Government, but it definitely indicates the direction, which it is moving to. Sorry to say that neither his performance has been up to the mark nor the image of his Government is encouraging. The son, Akhilesh is fast ruining the base of the Samajwadi Party that was built by his father with hard work in Uttar Pradesh. As of now, the Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav has proved to be an inefficient leader. Samajwadi Party has a long list of tainted faces and workers, which it has been unable to get rid of. According to Swami Prasad Maurya, a leader of the main opposition party, Bahujan Samaj Party, performance of Akhilesh Yadav Government during the first year has been very disappointing. Accusing this Government of anarchy, he says that it had failed on every front. Especially, the law and order situation has been reduced to a farce. The Government has not come true to the expectations of the people during this first year, but they have not abandoned their hopes and that can be construed as the strength of this Government as well as a remark on the performance of the first year. Despite being a failure on some fronts, the Government has fulfilled its election promises, which go to its credit and which it can claim as its achievements. But on the law and order front, there is no improvement in the situation. Persons like Ponty Chaddha are still effectively operating as they were during the Mayawati rule. If we look at the rising crime graph, we can say that expectations kindled among people by Akhilesh have not so far been fulfilled. For example, the corruption prevailing during the Mayawati Government’s rule, has, on the contrary risen. The mining officer, who used to charge 1.10 lakh rupees for mining of 50 wagons of sand and stones, is now charging 1.20 lakh rupees. The power that Ponty Chaddha family used to wield during the Mayawati’s rule, has only increased in the Akhilesh Government. The Government has failed in stopping riots. The role of Police in curbing riots is also being questioned. Law and order situation and controlling riots are more important for the people of the State than distribution of lap-tops and unemployment allowance. Laptops have, however, now found their way to Naja Market of Lucknow for sale. The Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav at an impressive function last Tuesday, distributed HP laptops free to the students passing higher secondary exams. A total number of 9,995 laptops have so far been distributed. But, later, some of smart students have started selling their laptops in the Naja market, thus making mockery of this scheme of the Chief Minister. Akhilesh Yadav’s biggest problem is his uncles. The UP Government had published an advertisement two days earlier in selected few newspapers. It carried five photographs and all were of same size. Photograph of Akhilesh or Mulayam Singh was not even at number one nor their photographs were larger than others’. It is clear that due to a number of power centres in Uttar Pradesh, the work of the Government is suffering for which only Akhilesh Yadav is being held responsible. People have high hopes from Akhilesh and they want him to get out of this rut. As per statistics, last year has been a bad one on a number of fronts. There have been 27 incidents of communal violence in a year. Riots in Mathura, Bareilly, Lucknow and Faizabad have blotted the image of the Government. Kunda episode has shattered the Government’s claim of law and order situation in the State being normal. Closure of Malls to tide over the electricity crisis and allowing legislators to purchase vehicles out of Legislator Fund have made the Government laughing stock. Rolling back these orders have made him a weak Chief Minister. People are also not happy with senior party leaders who are often questioning the working of the Government and running a parallel government by some of the senior leaders of the Party. Appointing the son-in-law of Maulana Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Delhi, as MLC and providing red beacons to many of his supporters have forced people to believe that the Government is prone to pressure. Technically, the central government may be responsible for the Kumbh incident, but people have been blaming the Akhilesh Government for poor arrangements. When Akhilesh Yadav took oath as the youngest Chief Minister of the largest state of the country on 15th March, 2012, he did have the challenge to transform UP, but there was no imminent danger of his being assessed by the public. On the contrary, he had with him fresh public support and new expectations. But, after the passage of one year, the performance of his Government is under public lens. After all, period of one year has its own importance as during this period a phase of displeasure also takes place.