UP and down it goes

Uttar Pradesh — with a population that could have made it the seventh largest nation in the world — has been unfortunate in its leaders. While other states, even neighbouring Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, are seriously attempting to climb out of their respective ruts in terms of governance and development, Uttar Pradesh still cannot even dare to dream of doing so because its leaders continue to be votaries of the politics of symbolism rather than substance. It follows from this that
decision-making in the state is often reduced to merely showcasing ideological agendas rather than transforming the lives of citizens.

Mayawati, whenever she had come to power in the state, had perfected the populist art of carving out new division and districts, sometimes naming them after the heroes and heroines of Bahujan politics. Consequently, UP was suddenly endowed with districts bearing names like Jyotibaphule Nagar, Mahamayanagar, Kabirnagar, Kaushambi, Ambedkarnagar, Gautambuddha Nagar. Now that her bete noire, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is in the saddle, he has proceeded to disband many of these newly-created divisions and districts — with an eye on the coming elections no doubt although this is vehemently denied of course. This is not to argue that chief ministers must not create districts or disband them. This is to argue for a rational way of arriving at whether a district needs to be created or whether it needs to be disbanded, after gaining the political consensus for the move and then proceeding with it in a considered fashion. Indeed, smaller districts could help ensure smoother administration and the delivery of justice besides holding an emotive resonance for local communities. Similarly, if this process is badly handled, it could lead to enormous wastage of funds and duplication of administrative energy and inputs.

The current unrest that has greeted Mulayam Singh Yadav peremptory move to disband four divisions and nine districts in the state — he did this without consulting either his political allies in government or the opposition parties — could easily have been anticipated and avoided. But power often brings with it not just arrogance but shortsightedness which, as Mulayam Singh Yadav may yet discover, could extract a political price.