The BJP government and governance

Tanuj Goswami

(The writer can be reached at tanujuri03@gmail.com)

Consequent upon huge public mandate the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) constituted the Government at Dispur in 2014 , and with it the people across the state went hysterical and naturally hoped for better Governance after having had several years of bitter experiences of misrule, misdeeds and very undesirable and suffocating culture of corruption that had been bred and institutionalized by the Congress Government for three consecutive terms. During Congress regime some unprecedented apotheosis took place that spurred the conscience of people, so people craved for a kind of change.

The BJP juggernaut across the nation swept it to power at the Centre worked well in Assam too as the fiery political rhetoric laced with a clarion call to make Assam free of illegal Bangladeshi from its soil could win the people’s heart. The gullible people thought that the foreigners' issue which is the single largest problem of Assam defying a concrete solution years after year will get priority for action by the new BJP dispensation.

It is truism that Assam has been seriously battered by a host of socio-economic, communication, flood and erosion, unemployment, ethnic , political and other festering issues some of which were purposely left unresolved for the last several decades coming at last to such a pass as to threaten the very existence of the indigenous people in terms of all spheres of life, culture, language, liberty and all.

For the last one year the state has again been in turmoil glaringly witnessed in the streets across Assam. The updation works of National Register of Citizen( NRC) under the strict supervision of Supreme Court of India for identifying and determining the illegal migrants entering India after the midnight of 24th March 1971 will shortly unravel the real situation in due course of time. Perhaps it will cause another scenario of deep anxiety and concern for the indigenous people.

It is extremely embarrassing that the role of the executive machinery of the state has been so dismal all these years that both the Centre and the state have been playing duck and drakes with the foreigners' issue just to garner votes and to create vote bank politics for their own electoral interest, caring the least for the interest of the indigenous people even to the extent of endangering the safety and security of the nation.

Instances of such abominable and self-betrayal acts shall never ever be found anywhere in the civilized world. Wonder of wonders even the AGP party constituted by the local people for the greater interest of the state and to protect the identity of the local people disappointed their own people by their misrule, misgovernence and sheer lack of foresightedness.

The existential crisis of the indigenous people manifested in eleven districts where locals are fast being outnumbered, with simultaneous all round dominance by illegal doubtful outsiders on demography, trade, commerce, business so much so that the locals have to cede political clout in terms of electoral constituency in said districts where the locals have no choice but to stay as underdogs.

The situation makes alarm bell ringing and the constitutional safeguards for the indigenous people with the formation of a high-level committee mooted by the BJP government at the fag end of its rule reeks of political chicanery devoid of sincerity of purpose which in fact should have been around and action initiated years ago.

Strangely enough the course of events have turned a full circle , and a stage has been set by the present BJP Government initiating an infamous act in the parliament called ‘Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016’ having scope to legitimize lakh of illegal Hindu migrants and thus opening the floodgate for Hindu migrants forever. The Assam has been a convenient dumping ground on account of sheer lack of strong political leadership and sanity at the state level. Furthermore no visionary leader with political acumen imbued with deep insight in the political history is seriously lacking , so Assam has been a flashpoint of chain of events , violent agitation, ethnic issues to the cost of its all round development

Meanwhile all kinds of unrest has resurfaced in the state and the Government’s much trumpeted agenda ‘minimum government and maximum governance’ fails to get off the ground. Unfortunately the government which was greeted with blessings by the public has to face brickbats because of its own folly and bad governance. It is sheer oxymoron talking of constitutional safeguards for the locals and allowing foreigners to settle and legitimized.

The much talked about ‘qualitative Governance’ nosedived, plunging the state in a morass of despair. The major anti corruption drive uncovering the deep rooted ‘cash for job market’ at the APSC ,often parroted by the Chief Minister as a big deal is simply the tip of an iceberg but action on corruption of far much wider dimension committed in all the government departments across Assam for the last fifteen years still remain untouched . So far the real crusaders of corruption are roaming freely.

A District Head of a major upper Assam district remarked that the level of corruption in the Government departments in his district was so high and intense that he dared not to open the Pandora box, as doing so will tumble many skeleton from the cupboard. The approach is akin to ‘let bygone be bygone’ relegating the slogan of making Assam corruption free to non issue.

As a result the credibility of Government and governance suffers badly losing public trust and confidence.

Meanwhile an unfavorable chain of media reports linking how the high-ups and mighty in the government’s seat of power at the district headquarter and Dispur in cahoots with anti-socials are robbing and raping their own motherland , destructing virgin hill/ mountain tops for illegal mining of coal etc thereby giving rise to unprecedented level of all kinds of environmental pollution, depriving the government exchequer of huge amount of revenues and thus setting off the gold rush . The so called Syndicate raj in trade and business is thriving at fast pace making a mockery of the Government crusade for good governance.

The public trust which is the biggest asset in a democracy need to be nurtured carefully by the powers that be rather than fritter it away on some make-believe stories. The Government’s most convenient plea that the specter of opposition is playing spoilsport, needs to be replaced with enough soul-searching. The earlier good sense prevails upon the Government it is better for all, as the fault line already appeared will cause violent social cataclysm.