JOIN USAs criticism on coronavirus lockdown and migrants' crisis mount, government raises ‘gaon, gareeb kisan’ pitch
As the Opposition seeks to put the blame on Centre for “messy management of the migrant crisis,” the NDA government has gone into an overdrive to take home its ‘gaoon, gareeb kisan” message, besides countering the criticism on the handling migrant movement during lockdown by launching direct people contact programmes and reeling out details of how the Opposition-ruled state governments put impediments in letting migrants come back to their homes.
With the economy in doldrums and middle classes voicing disenchantment, the Govt is in overdrive to woo 'gaaon gareeb kisan'. From the emotive slogan of ‘igniting the spirit of Jai Kisan’ to describing caring for the poor as top focus of Government, Centre has reached out to the rural masses in a big way in the last few days.
This was after Modi penned a personal letter which BJP will reach to 10 crore homes in the month of June telling people how the government created a buffer for the poor and the labourers during COVID-19 crisis and provided food to nearly 80 crore people.
During the first cabinet meeting after completion of the first year of Modi 2.0, Government cited it as ‘historic first” claiming this is for the first time in India’s history that street vendors from peri-urban and rural areas have become beneficiaries of an urban livelihood programme.
“These steps are only the latest in a series of measures taken by the government, which shows its continuous commitment to championing the cause of welfare of the hardworking farmers of India, said the government.
Announcing the measures, the government said they will lay the foundation for ensuring “golden harvests for our hard-working farmer”, who will now get the freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute and supply after they have been empowered to engage with processors, aggregators, wholesalers, large retailers, exporters.
Raising the pitch further, these steps are only the latest in a series of measures taken by the government, which shows its continuous commitment to championing the cause of welfare of the hardworking farmers of India.
When Modi chaired the first Cabinet meeting on Monday after completion of the first year of his second term in office on May 30, the government chose to stress “caring for the poor is the top focus of the government”.
Clearly as Opposition has realised the potential of the campaign built around ‘messy management of migrant issues” and electoral gains accruing from it in times to come when three agrarian belt states Bihar, West Bengal and UP go to polls (in 2020, 2021 and 2022), the government is also aware of the dent it can make in BJP’s carefully cultivated base among OBC, Dalits and the poor.
Projecting the humble ‘chaiwalah’ origin of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who belongs to the EBC community, BJP has breached the support base of many parties in the last few years, particularly in the Hindi belt. Modi himself has said a number of times that the true growth of India is in development of the ‘daridranaryana (the poor God).
The poor backed him resoundingly when he took the demonetisation decision in August 2016 and BJP had a record victory in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in 2017, decimating the alliance of SP-Congress on the one and Mayawati’s BSP on the other hand, with huge chunks of OBC and Dalit youths voting for him and his Gujarat model of development, which they will usher in the Hindi belt state, where massive unemployment and resultant migration mark their lives. UP with 80 Lok Sabha seats and Bihar with 40, have resoundingly voted for BJP both in 2014 and 2019 elections.
It is this constituency which is at stake now, having returned from diamond city of Surat and other industrial township of Gujarat, the dream city of Mumbai or the national capital. Agriculture is a field where a large number of these youths who returned due to reverse migration can be re-employed if an out of box thinking was done. And hence the corrective measure has to be in place.
“The poor and vulnerable are at the top of the priorities of the Government led by the Prime Minister. During the Coronavirus pandemic, right from the day of announcement of the lockdown, the government has been sensitive to the needs of the poorest of the poor.
This was seen in the announcement of the Pradhan MantriGaribKalyanYojana package on 26th of March 2020, within two days of the start of lockdown. From ensuring coverage of around 80 crore people with food security to direct cash transfers into the bank accounts of 20 crore women, from putting money into the hands of senior citizens, poor widows and poor Divyangs to front-loading of the PM-KISAN instalment to crores of farmers, steps were announced.
These covered a wide range of vulnerable sections who would have borne the brunt of the lockdown if not for the immediate intervention of the government. At every step, the Government of India has shown compassion and alacrity in serving the needs of the most vulnerable,” the Centre said.