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Journalism of Courage
With the Rajasthan Assembly elections just over four months away, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is on a social welfare spree, pushing schemes and legislation centred on his plank of “good governance”.
These administrative and legislative measures, backed by a massive publicity campaign on various platforms including social media, are aimed at fuelling the Gehlot-led Congress dispensation’s key slogan – “Chauthi Baar Gehlot Sarkar (Gehlot government for a fourth term)”.
Four months after enacting the Right to Health law amidst protests by private doctors, the Gehlot government has now brought in the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023, which seeks to cover the entire adult population of the state with guaranteed wages or pension.
Another Bill tabled by the Gehlot government in the ongoing session of the state Assembly is the Rajasthan Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which proposes to increase the quantum of punishment for those leaking question papers of recruitment examinations from the earlier 5-10 years in jail to life imprisonment.
The measures like the Right to Health and Minimum Guaranteed Income legislation are in sync with Gehlot’s bids to showcase his government’s welfare model in order to seek re-election and overturn a 25-year trend of the incumbent state government being voted out every five years.
On the other hand, by bringing in a Bill to enhance the punishment for those who leak question papers in government recruitment examinations to life imprisonment, the Gehlot government seems to be undertaking a damage control exercise after being cornered by the principal Opposition BJP over repeated cases of question paper leaks in the state.
Congress sources say that Gehlot does not want to see the paper leak issue become an Achilles heel for his campaign for a fourth chief ministerial term. And that is why, sources say, he has brought in two legislation on the issue in as many years to send out a message that the government has been “serious” about curbing the question paper leak incidents.
Last year, the Congress government had passed the Rajasthan Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Act, which had a provision of 5-10 years imprisonment and a penalty between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 10 crore for any person found violating the law. Its amendment Bill now proposes to increase the quantum of punishment to life imprisonment.
Just before the current Assembly session, Gehlot also stepped up his publicity play by announcing a video contest to market the Congress government’s welfare schemes.
The CM then declared the “Jan Samman Video Contest”, wherein videos are to be made on various schemes of the Rajasthan government with special emphasis on the 10 flagship schemes for which registration is being done since April at “Mahangai Rahat” (inflation relief) camps across the state. The Congress government is giving away a total prize money of Rs 2.75 lakh each day to the daily winners of this contest.
Last month, the Gehlot government announced that it will issue advertisements to social media influencers active on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to promote its various welfare schemes. By roping in influencers, Gehlot aims to make inroads into the base of younger electorate of the state and counter “anti-incumbency”.
Last time a CM in Rajasthan got two successive terms was in the 1990s, when the BJP’s Bhairon Singh Shekhawat became the CM twice during 1990-1998. Since 1998, Gehlot and senior BJP leader and ex-CM Vasundhara Raje have been alternately holding the state’s top post after every five years.
