Coming Down Hard on Former Rajasthan CM, Panchayati and Rural Development Minister of Rajasthan Mr. Rajendra Rathore Slammed the Opposition for BPL Controversy in Dausa…
Just when we thought that things couldn’t turn worse after alleged Pratapgarh lynching, a series of photographs and videos released by the media created a fresh round of controversy in Rajasthan. Around 50,000 BPL households in Dausa (Bandikui and Sikrai tehsil) featured yellow-colored posters on walls, allegedly marking them off as “poor”. Taking it as an example, the BPL families were purportedly highlighted as recipients of benefits under government schemes, a fact that earned criticism for the ruling BJP government.
When the entire media was busy highlighting the ruling BJP as a ‘villain’ for publicly humiliating the BPL (below poverty line) families in Rajasthan, the rural development minister slammed the critics with well-researched figures. Rathore cleared the air on seemingly fake BPL crackdown. It was not BJP, but Rajasthan Congress that started the trend of publicly ‘marking’ the BPL families, a trend that started back on August 6, 2009. The Congress, which is fond of using its ‘Dalit’ card every now and then, marked BPL beneficiaries who received employment under MNREGA and homes under ‘Indira Gandhi Awaas Yojana’, informed Rathore.
Not to mention, their star campaigner Rahul Gandhi redefined poverty as a ‘state of mind’!
Before 2013 Rajasthan state assembly elections, the former government issued fake ration cards and voter IDs in gigantic number. Around 2.23 crore bogus ration cards were busted wherein ‘fake’ BPL families accessed low-priced commodities (like 5 kg wheat at Rs 2/month) thus claiming the rights of authentic owners. After suspending the ration cards, the state saved ration worth Rs 14,000 crores—a major accomplishment that followed digitization of ration delivery, launching of 25,000 fair-price ‘Annapurna Bhandars’ and installation of ePos for swiping ‘Bhamashah Cards’.
Steps like these ensure that the benefits of various government schemes are timely delivered to the authentic beneficiaries. Despite striking off 13 lakh ration cards from entitlement list, the growing number of fake IDs was a major source of concern for the government. Keeping this in mind, the ruling BJP continued the trend of marking BPL families in the hopes of keeping tabs on authentic recipients of government benefits—a practice that was bitterly criticized by the haters.
The self-styled patron of the ‘poor’ used this clip to criticize the ruling BJP for sowing seeds that were planted by Congress some 60 years ago.
Talking about Rajasthan, in last 3 years, there has been a hike in the number of:
- BPL kids enrolled in government schools,
- BPL students receiving scooty, scholarships and other benefits,
- BPL families receiving free medical aid under Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana,
- BPL labors and workers receiving subsidized meals at Annapurna Rasois.
But who cares, we’ll continue to use this one incident against the government for some ‘masala’ because branding the BPLs as ‘poor’ is a more important issue than people losing their lives due to the shortage of food and facilities.
