By
LS Herdenia
BHOPAL: Kamal Nath’s oath taking
ceremony was unusual in many ways. Besides the presence of leaders of several
parties that are likely to be partners in the future Mahagathbandhan,
representatives of various faiths were given place on the main rostrum. Perhaps
the most striking feature was the respect extended to three former BJP chief
ministers – Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Kailash Joshi and Babulal Gaur. Kamal Nath,
before taking oath, went to Chouhan and greeted him. Also, Kamal Nath and
Jyotiraditya Scindia greeted the crowd holding their hands together. On the
dais Digvijaya Singh escorted Babulal Gaur to his seat, holding his hand.
Chouhan
stood between Kamal Nath and Scindia, hands linked with them and held high. But
sitting among Congress and other national level opposition leaders in the front
row on the dais, he seemed a bit uncomfortable. Gaur and Joshi were sitting in
the back rows.
As
soon as the senior Congress leaders arrived, Kamal Nath made it a point to walk
up to Chouhan almost immediately (after meeting Rahul Gandhi) and talk with him
for some time. Scindia also joined the conversation and later they raised their
hands together in a surprise gesture.
Similarly,
Congress leaders respectfully asked Joshi to move to the front rows while ex-CM
Digvijaya Singh personally escorted Gaur to the front. All the BJP leaders were
seen moved by the courteous gestures.
This
set of gestures was quite in contrast with the regime of BJP when Opposition
leaders would be ignored or slighted at public functions. Not just in Bhopal,
but in other major cities and district headquarters, elected Congress leaders’
names were often missing in invitation cards or plaques. In government
functions, it was common to find Congress leaders who complained that either invitations
were not sent or reached them later. In the past for such ceremonies only Hindu
religious leaders were invited by the BJP. But in Monday’s ceremony
representatives of various faiths were not only invited but given respectful
place on the rostrum.
Oath
of office and secrecy was administered by Governor Anandiben Patel to Kamal
Nath. He took oath alone as chief minister. It was also a remarkable
coincidence that Anadiben Patel, after presiding over Bhopal ceremony, had to
rush to Raipur to administer oath to Bhupesh Baghel as the chief minister of
Chhattisgarh.
The
ceremony was witnessed by representatives of 17 political parties. Those who
were present included former Prime Ministers HD Deve Gowda and Dr Manmohan
Singh and chief ministers Chandrababu Naidu, HD Kumaraswamy and Ashok Gehlot.
Also present were Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, Farooq
Abdullah, leader of the Congress contingent in the Lok Sabha Malikarjun Kharge,
Sharad Pawar, Sharad Yadav, MK Stalin, Hemant Soren, Tejashwi Yadav, Navjot
Sidhu, Raj Babbar and Bhupendra Huda. Among the major absentees were Mayawati,
Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee. (IPA Service)
Also,
for the first time since Emergency, cutouts and posters of Sanjay Gandhi were
seen on the roads of Bhopal. Sanjay’s photographs have also been put up at the
chief minister’s residence and his office.
Before
the elections, the MP Congress had issued a 50-page Vachan Patra (Document of
Promises). The 112-page document made many promises, including waiver of farm
loans. Congress president Rahul Gandhi, while campaigning in the state, had
promised that farm loans would be waived within 10 days of the Congress forming
its government. He had also warned that if that is not done, the chief minister
will be asked to quit.
Keeping
the promise in view, Kamal Nath acted promptly and issued the order waiving
farm loans within two hours of his oath. The order said that outstanding
short-term crop loans of up to Rs 2 lakh as on March 31, 2018, taken from
nationalised and cooperative banks, stood waived. It said the same would apply
to ‘eligible farmers’ whose eligibility would be determined through an exercise.
Rough
estimates show that Rs 57,000 crore worth of crop loans are outstanding as on
September 30, 2018, including Rs 34,000 crores worth of loans taken from
nationalised banks and Rs 8,000 crore taken from cooperative banks. This
involves nearly 41 lakh farmers.
Further,
there are nearly Rs 15,000 crore worth of crop loans that have been declared
NPAs, involving another 21 lakh farmers, taking the total pending crop loans to
the tune of Rs 71,000 crore. Complicating such a huge payout by the MP government
is that the state is under a debt of Rs 1.75 lakh crore and its fiscal deficit
would widen beyond manageable levels in case of a waiver. (IPA Service)
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