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People in Rajasthan happy with the government but angry with the chief minister

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New Delhi, Oct 17: For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajasthan Assembly elections seem to be the lost battle even at the very outset despite the fact that there is no palpable anger among the masses as such against the party across the state. People of the state talk about the work done by the government and the main opposition Congress is not organisationally very strong still the BJP is facing stiff challenge.

People in Rajasthan happy with the government but angry with the chief minister

What are the reasons that are helping the Congress to have clear edge over the BJP in the state? Arrogance is being sighted the only reason and to dispel this perception, chief minister Vasundhara Raje undertook Jan Samwad (public dialogues) across Rajasthan in January 2018. The idea behind the move was for her to venture out of Jaipur to meet and talk to people and give the impression that she was accessible. But the move was too late and directionless as she remained surrounded by sycophants confining her to her bastion for long. She remained cut off from party workers and even legislators. This is the biggest grudge of people, workers and leaders of the party against him and issue made by the Congress. Some of her MLAs too have turned arrogant following their leader.

Also Read | Caste to be key to ticket distribution in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh

But chief minister's inaccessibility can sometimes be ignored due to busy scheduled but promise of generating 15 lakh jobs, anger among different castes groups that formed the traditional vote base of the BJP, rural distress causing suicides of farmers, which was unheard of in the state and exclusion of people from social security schemes are major issues that opposition political parties are racking up.

Demand for job the biggest issue in Rajasthan

As a leader of opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly, Vasundhara Raje promised job to youth when they were protesting against the then Ashok Gehlot government in 2013. The famous statement made by Raje in the Shekhawati region is being quoted now by the opposition where she had said: "Lathi nahi, naukriya doongi" (I will give you jobs, not lathis)." During her Suraj Sankalp Yatra, she promised providing 15 lakh jobs to youths. Youth of the state voted for the BJP giving an unprecedented majority with 160 seats in a house of 200 MLAs. But on the job front, the government failed miserably. Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot could be heard saying, "They took the youth of the state for a ride, with a false promise that she knew she could never fulfill."

Now the BJP is talking about 15 lakh job opportunities. In a reply to a question in the Assembly in February, 2018, the government said that it had provided employment opportunities to 13 lakh people. Under skill training scheme, 994,520 people have been trained so far, out of which 639,000 people have got employment.

Also Read | Rajasthan CM's inaccessibility and arrogance the biggest issue in the state

Raje also promised during her political yatra ahead of the 2013 elections to revoke the Rajasthan Teachers Eligibility Test (RTET), introduced by the Congress government in 2011 as a filter for recruitment of teachers but it only combined the two exams (RTET and recruitment) into one, so people are also angry on this issue as well. The incumbant CM's promise to revoke RTET and generate 15 lakh jobs got the young on her side, but they felt cheated when she failed to fulfill the promises.

Unprecedented Aggrerian distress

Farmers in Rajasthan committed suicide over debt for the first time in the history as they witnessed a decline in the prices of their produce. Five farmers committed suicide in 2018 due to a fall in garlic prices in the Hadoti region that comprised Kota, Bundi, Baran and Jhalawar districts of state. The government rubbed salt to their wounds as it refused to buy the argument that suicide of farmers was due to debt. The state government has come up with explanation that under the Congress rule, 152 people committed suicide in Kota and Baran. They are on war path with the government with big agitation in Sikar in September last year forcing the government to announce a farm loan waiver of up to Rs 50,000 for small and marginal farmers, for loans taken from cooperative banks. But farmers want the government to implement recommendations of the M S Swaminathan Commission. The recent announcement of hiking MSP by the Centre is being dubbed by farmer leaders as an eyewash because it doesn't take into account all costs of production and includes only family labour, and cost of fertiliser and seeds.

Social sector schemes

The state government is also facing flak for cutting back on social sector schemes. The government said it would review the list of beneficiaries and weed out phoney ones. Several civil society groups have criticised its attempts at curtailing schemes such as old-age pensions, free medicines and food security. The bulk of social sector schemes were central initiatives. The state has lagged in implementing them. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is in crisis due to poor implementation. The number of days and wages have declined. There is no political prioritisation.

Also Read | Rajasthan assembly polls: The not so easy battle and why BJP could struggle

It is being alleged that the government removed around 25 lakh families from the food security scheme, saying they didn't deserve the benefit. Another 25 lakh are unable to access the subsidised rations due to the Point of Sale (PoS) machines not being able to read their fingerprints. The poor have suffered the ill effects of digital governance. The department of IT is now doing some good by trying to include those who have been left out. For instance, the CM had raised the pension for widows above 60 years to Rs 1,000. For a year, the widows didn't get the pension but they are getting it now for which the government should be appreciated. Bhamashah Yojana of the government is very popular among the people in which 30-32 schemes have been merged. It is so important that Congress promised not to do away with this scheme.

But state got better infrastructure under Vasundhara

The work on infrastructure and other works have been done by the government but the only issue is anger against the CM for her arrogance. People are not angry with the BJP but with the CM. It seems to be a walkover for the Congress. A senior journalist based in Jaipur Vinod Pathak told OneIndia, "There is no issue as such except the working style of the CM. She is being alleged to be siding with industrialists not with commoners. Central leadership of Congress is talking about Rafale and Suit-Boot government which are more of a symbolic attack making no impact in the state. Even her detractors accept that lots of work has been done in infrastructure, water and power sector. There is a scheme called Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan in the state."

Anger of Rajputes in the state placated

Caste factor will also work like other states but anger of a section of Rajput community due to encounter of Anand Pal from the Rawana Rajput community was there but it is somehow placated. Jats are decisive but they are more angry with Ashok Gehlote than the BJP.

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