Jogi versus Jogi

The Congress party8217;s national slogan is 8216;8216;Congress ka haath, garibon ke saath8217;8217;, but in Chhattisgarh it has been gi...

The Congress party8217;s national slogan is 8216;8216;Congress ka haath, garibon ke saath8217;8217;, but in Chhattisgarh it has been given a new twist. In towns, kasbas and villages, posters show Ajit Jogi smiling down a renewed slogan 8216;8216;Congress ka haath, vikas ke saath8217;8217;.

Of the four states going to polls, Chhattisgarh had the maximum 8216;development8217; to show off. After all, the state was formed just three years ago and things had to be started from scratch 8212; new roads, new schemes, new structures. Yet, despite Jogi8217;s concerted effort to project himself as the development messiah, vikas has been largely overshadowed by the personalised election campaigns run by the Congress and BJP. If the Congress tried to cash in on the Judeo tape, the BJP rolled out its charges 8212; he was autocratic, manipulative, vindictive, egoistic, fraudulent 8230;

Development, the BJP claims, has been largely due to central funds and schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana for which Jogi is taking false credit.

The truth is that the infrastructure in Chhattisgarh is far superior to that in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. Barring a few stretches, the roads are good; the state has surplus power; and water supply has improved in urban and rural areas.

But ask the common man, and your are not likely to hear hosannas to development. It is only on being closely questioned that they grudgingly admit that ponds have been dug as part of an extensive rain-harvesting scheme, new roads have been laid. The common refrain is: 8216;8216;Kaam to hua hai, par8230; work has been done, but then.

As campaign draws to a close, even these admissions are growing faint. Uma, a housewife in Vijaybara basti in rural Raipur, complains: 8216;8216;Hamare yahan to kuch vikas nahin hua hai8217;8217; there has been no development here, pointing to the overflowing drains and garbage heaps. That drains and garbage clearance are the job of the local municipality and not the state government hardly matter to her. Her entire family voted for the Congress in 1998 but this time they won8217;t.

One reason why the BJP8217;s campaign against Jogi8217;s rule which they liken to an undeclared Emergency seems to be working is the haste in which development projects were implemented across the state and Jogi8217;s over-projection of himself. In case of ponds dabri, for instance, villagers complain that they were not compensated for their land. They also point to the siphoning of funds from the food-for-work programmes and the government8217;s failure to buy paddy at the support price, forcing farmers to sell at a loss in the open market.

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But these are stray strands in the larger tapestry that Jogi seems to have woven around himself. For the past three years, he has consistently tried to project himself rather than the Congress 8212; even the village pond scheme is informally called 8216;Jogi Dabri Yojana8217;. This has made it easier for the opposition to target him rather than the party. The Congress still has large pockets of traditional support across the state where illiterate adivasis haven8217;t heard of Vajpayee but still remember Indira Gandhi. The chief minister maintains that the 8216;8216;hate Jogi8217;8217; campaign, fuelled by vested upper caste interests who loathe his pro-poor development agenda, will consolidate his support base. Whether that translates into victory for the party, the results will tell.