Madhya Pradesh: Battling on several fronts

Shivraj Singh Chouhan's call for prohibition rekindles interest in the politics of the state

Madhya Pradesh has been in the news, though it was noticed only when Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s declaration that he favours phased, and eventually total, prohibition in the state, set off a huge controversy.

Those who monitor state finances say Madhya Pradesh just cannot afford a hole in its finances and argue that the move would be a setback for tourism. Most observers see this as preparation for Assembly elections due at the end of 2018. 

Chouhan’s detractors, like Kailash Vijayavargiya, general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, immediately came out with disclaimers: The CM did not really mean what he said, etc.

The controversy was a diversion from all the others that are raging in the state. IAS officer of the 1994 batch, Deepali Rastogi, currently commissioner in the Department of Tribal Welfare in the state government, has been issued a show cause notice for publicly airing criticism of the Centre’s campaign against open defecation (Open Defecation-Free or ODF). The summum bonum of Rastogi’s argument: Just because the white man says it is better to defecate in toilets, should India adopt this blindly and roll it out in a matter of months, expecting that it will replace a practice that has been followed for centuries? 

She also raised doubts about the availability of water to keep clean the toilets constructed under the ODF campaign, especially in areas where water is not even available for drinking and a pitcher of water has to be carried for miles. After picking holes in the way the scheme was promoted by the government, she concluded the article saying: “Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for toilets. After all, I am a city dweller. I’m just uncomfortable with the way we are pushing it.” The IAS community in the state is deeply divided on the issue. Many feel Rastogi should not have said what she did; others believe she has a right to her views. But interestingly, BJP leader and Member of Parliament Prahlad Patel told reporters in Bhopal that some of the questions raised by Rastogi were practical and the government needed to address the problem.

Indirectly, all these issues reveal the fault lines in the Madhya Pradesh government and state party. Chouhan continues to hold sway — in 2018, he is expected to make a bid for a fourth term as chief minister. Strictly speaking, he has put in about three and a half terms — he replaced the inimitable Babu Lal Gaur as chief minister in 2005 midway during the government’s term and has held on to the post since. The BJP itself has been in power in the state for 14 years. In June last year, he got Gaur (who had become a pain in the neck because of his incessant criticism of the Chouhan -led government) to resign under the retirement-at-75 rule.But it is also true that Chouhan is facing several challenges, though the Congress seems to be the least of his problems.

Nature abhors a vacuum and that left by the established parliamentary Opposition — the Congress — has tended to be filled by members of Chouhan’s own party. Vijayavargiya and Gaur are just two examples. It is not as if the Congress has been snapping at the heels of the BJP. The Congress won the recent Ater Assembly constituency in a by-election by a margin of just 800 votes. In the last election the seat also held by the Congress saw the party win by a margin of 11,000 votes. The BJP won the Bandhavgarh seat by a margin of more than 25,476 votes. Interestingly, while winning the Ater seat was a matter of prestige for Jyotiraditya Scindia, it was Congress MP Kamal Nath, who was given charge of Bandhavgarh. The result of the by-election suggests the Congress will recognise Scindia’s vote-garnering capacities and put him in charge of the state. It is amply clear that at least one person thinks so. During the Ater campaign, Chouhan launched a broadside against the Scindia family and its role in the freedom movement — he called them collaborators, possibly forgetting that Vasundhara Raje and Yasho Raje, Scindia’s two sisters, are prominent members of the BJP with the latter, a minister in his own government!

With all this, rumours refuse to die down that Chouhan might to be moved to the Union Cabinet, with Narendra Singh Tomar readying to replace him in the state. Although Chouhan has not reacted publicly to this speculation, clearly it is meant to undermine him. Hence, the outreach to appear decisive — prohibition and assorted projects. Chouhan is trying to safeguard present ground before attempting to conquer new areas.