Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot interacting with Congress workers, in Pali on June 3, 2023. Photo: Twitter/@ashokgehlot51 Via PTI
a video from Beneficiaries Utsav (Festival for Beneficiaries) The event, organized by the Rajasthan government on Monday, went viral on social media. In the video, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is asking a woman over video conference how many welfare schemes she is availing. After the woman, a widow, the sole earning member in a household of two children and an aging mother-in-law, lists the schemes she has enrolled for, and Mr Gehlot asks, “Do you have cows?” Pat replies, “No, I only have one Mithu (parrot)”. Mr Gehlot’s question was aimed at telling him about his government’s animal insurance scheme – Mukhyamantri Kamdhenu Pashu Bima Yojana. But there is no government insurance scheme for pet parrots, at least not yet.
Gehlot Government to highlight the bouquet of welfare schemes and reach out to individual beneficiaries for direct feedback and expand this base of beneficiaries or Beneficiary,
The term was introduced into the country’s everyday political lexicon by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP launched the “beneficiary” narrative, exploiting the world’s oldest divide of “haves” and “have-nots” to unite the latter group, which transcends caste divides to create historical divides. has been numerically strong in terms of form, community, gender and religion.
With elections less than five months away, the Congress government led by chief minister Ashok Gehlot has embraced it. Monday’s event was the second edition of the Beneficiary Festival (the first was held on March 30), a mega carnival that also serves as a platform to showcase the achievements of his government.
The Gehlot government has a plan for everyone in a Mary Poppins bag; health and accident insurance schemes (Mukhya Mantri Chiranjeevi Swasthya Bima Yojana and Mukhya Mantri Chiranjeevi Accident Insurance Scheme) and Mukhyamantri Kisan Mitra Urja Yojana which provides free electricity up to 2,000 units to farmers. Also, up to 100 units of domestic electricity has been made free. Rajasthan is the only state in the country which has set aside around ₹900 crore for its Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme – Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme.
public money
“This is people’s money being used for the benefit of the people,” Mr Gehlot says, dismissing the opposition’s questions on the fiscal wisdom behind such a practice.
The fear of the oscillating pendulum of power alternating between the BJP and the Congress since 1998 is at the core of the “beneficiary push”. Vs Meena and Jat Vs Rajput conflicts, which have often implicated many political heavyweights. Not to be forgotten, the former Deputy Chief Minister of the state Sachin Pilot who is on a rebel course. Can beneficiary enthusiasm overcome the rift within the party?
The Congress, like the BJP, is hoping that a caste-less set of beneficiaries will stand with it in the elections.
A government expanding a bunch of welfare schemes is neither unprecedented nor unique. Critics within the party point out that during Mr Gehlot’s previous term, 2008-13, he similarly supported the Mukhyamantri Nishul Dava Yojana (MNDY) or free drug scheme, which provided generic drugs for free. It was a runaway success. But this could not win him the election. Of the 96 seats it won in 2008, the Congress was reduced to 21 and the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government came to power with 163 seats in an assembly of 200.
But believers say the main difference between the two terms is that the government then did not “talk enough” about its work. “It cannot be denied that there is anger against many Congress MLAs, but the beneficiary-pushing will create enough of a pro-incumbency wave to get people to vote for Mr Gehlot, even if they do not vote for the person. Want to Congress MLA,” said a Congress MLA. More than a dozen “benefit festivals” are planned before the election schedule is announced later this year.
The party is hoping that Mr Gehlot, who comes from a community of magicians, will pull a rabbit out of his hat and cast a spell on the voters.
sobhanak.nair@thehindu.co.in