A YOUNG VETERAN
Chief Minister Fadnavis’s success owes more to his survival skills than his governance record
Devendra Fadnavis has said he will continue as Maharashtra’s chief minister after the assembly polls next September. His confidence stems from his success in weathering political storms and neutralising rivals rather than his government’s achievements.
Close to entering his fifth year as CM on October 30, Fadnavis has emerged taller than everyone else in the state BJP. Besides leading the party to victory in consecutive local polls, he is also credited with winning the largest number of seats in zila parishad and municipal polls. This was despite being under constant attack from rival politicians like NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Fadnavis, on his part, engineered a rift with the NCP by convincing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to nominate Sambhaji Raje, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, to the Rajya Sabha in 2016. A furious Pawar mocked the CM’s Brahmin caste: “In the past, Chhatrapati used to appoint a Peshwa. Now the Peshwa (Brahmin) has appointed a Chhatrapati,” Pawar had said in a statement that was widely seen to have fuelled the quota agitation by the Marathas. The agitation proved Fadnavis’s biggest challenge, unprecedently driving caste polarisation in the state. Quickly sensing the issue could lead to his ouster, he looked for support within the Pawar clan and managed to win over an influential apolitical member of the Pawar family. The other Pawar, who does not want to be named, convinced the agitating Marathas that Fadnavis could not be blamed for the delay in announcing quotas as the matter is before the high court. And now, when the hearings resume in November, the CM is well prepared to handle the situation.
His mettle was also tested in January, when members of the Scheduled Caste community were attacked in Koregaon-Bhima near Pune, during an event to honour Dalit British Army soldiers who fought the Peshwa’s army 200 years ago. At the time at least two RSS think tanks, including the Forum for Integrated National Security, blamed poor intel inputs by the state police. However, subsequent police investigations implicating the alleged ‘urban naxals’ have helped Fadnavis douse SC anger.
While he’s been able to get a handle on most troubling issues, the CM continues to face flak from the state’s farmers. This is despite his efforts to augment water resources; strengthen-
ing agricultural markets; and announcing a Rs 1 lakh loan waiver per farmer. Many believe that it’s the state bureaucracy’s lethargy that has failed Fadnavis. While the CM proudly proclaims how eight states have shown interest in replicating the Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan, Maharashtra’s flagship water conservation scheme, water experts like H.M. Desarda, former chairman of the state planning commission, have questioned its scientific validity. There are also complaints that instead of benefitting cultivators, the scheme has become ‘contractor-driven’ and the bureaucracy has failed to have a check on the contractors.
Fadnavis’s loan waiver scheme exposed large numbers of fake claimants, bringing down the estimated 8.9 million beneficiary farmers to 5.2 million. However, benefits of the state government’s schemes providing farming implements, crop insurance and direct marketing of produce have failed to trickle down. “We are not able to convince farmers that we are on their side,” admits a minister ruing poor implementation by civil servants. “You should run a series of stories on how bureaucrats are making money,” he says.
Despite the continuing challenges, Fadnavis believes people will vote for him based on the development achieved. He points to the metro and the airport in Mumbai as well as strides made in education where Maharashtra moved from 18th position (among states) to an impressive 3rd place.
secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan believes that with the protests fizzling out, his party would gain politically. Kodiyeri has, however, cautioned the government and party leaders against issuing inflammatory statements or ordering police action against protesting devotees.
Meanwhile, the Travancore Devaswom Board has initiated discussions with custodians of the Sabarimala shrine to defuse the situation. Things finally seem to be looking up for the chief minister.
The Sabarimala issue has divided the NDA in Kerala, with the Ezhava organisation, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, shunning the BJP and instead supporting the state government.
THE CM UNDERLINES HIS STAND ON ALLOWING WOMEN OF ALL AGES INTO THE TEMPLE
Another constituent, the C.K. Januled Janathipathya Rashtriya Sabha, also exited the NDA on October 14. A firebrand tribal leader, Janu has welcomed the verdict and demanded that women should be appointed as priests at Sabarimala.
Citing the opposition’s contradictory and changing positions, Vijayan has been prompt in pointing out that his government has been consistent in its stand that women of all ages must be allowed in the temple. “It is progressive and matching the spirit of great social reform movements that changed Kerala,” he said, reminding the people that it was not the LDF government that initiated the legal battles over the Sabarimala shrine.