While accepting the nature of mandate during the 2014 election as fractured, the BJP-PDP Government had declared it as a challenge and an opportunity for bridging the divide within the state through the process of governance. The Agenda for Alliance that was formalised between the two parties had promised a stable and representative Government, which among other things, had the objective of strengthening institutions and widening ‘the ambit of democracy through incisive politics’. Unfortunately, from the day one, this Government has been struck up in situations of political volatility and rather than performing its pronounced role of bridging the divides through the process of governance, it has been struggling to survive one crisis after the other.
Simply Stated
Rekha Chowdhary
The coalition partners have been pushed in opposite directions many a time and rather than the common agenda of governance, it is the ideological and political difference between the two that has overtaken them. The contradictory pulls and pushes that have been there for everyone to see has forced the alliance partners to pay attention on saving their political constituencies rather than on issues of governance. Despite the fact that the Government has been able to sail through all the crises starting from the ‘Masarat Khan’ episode to the AIMS agitation and to the latest situations linked with ‘Beef ban’ and challenge to Article 35A, the day-to-day controversies have taken the toll of the Government and it is still to come upto the expectations of people as for as the issue of governance is concerned.
There were two major areas where the BJP-PDP Government had raised the expectations of people. Of these, the first one related to the issue of corruption. With the popular perception about the corruption having been institutionalised during last few years, it was expected that this new Government will take strong steps not only to free the governance from the malaise of corruption but also to take strong punitive action against those who were commonly perceived to be corrupt. The Agenda for Alliance in fact had stated that ‘it shall be the mission of the coalition Government to be the most ethical state in the country from the present day position of being the most corrupt state. For this new governance systems shall be introduced with national support and international expertise to provide honest, effective inclusive governance and service delivery.’ It was a very bold statement that was aimed at addressing the deep-rooted public feeling that the state had not only become one of the most corrupt that within the country but also that the dimensions of corruption had reached a new high with no accountability at all. Despite some efforts being made to institutionalise accountability through revival of State Accountability Commission and other efforts to man other important autonomous institutions of the state; the Government has not made much impression in the public mind about tackling corruption. Till now, the Government has failed to give a strong message in this direction. The trust deficit that had increased in the institutions of governance has still to be filled in.
The second area where there were high expectations from the Government related to flood relief and rehabilitation. Critiquing the Omar Abdullah Government in its failure to tackle the emergent situation of disaster and its inability to negotiate with the centre a package for relief, the PDP Government had made this as the major election issue and had its association with BJP was seen to be a great facilitator for negotiating a handsome package for relief. The Agenda for Alliance had committed itself in that direction. However, the failure of the Government to deliver in this matter has led to a great sense of disappointment or rather disillusionment among people.
Apart from these two issues where the Government has failed to make much impression among the people, there are few more areas which have remained totally out of the focus. Of these the most important issues are related to the strengthening of the Panchayati Raj institutions. To quote the Agenda of Alliance : ‘It will be ensured that powers and decentralization of decision making is in practice devolved to three tier Panchayats, Municipalities and Corporations. The third tier of governance will be empowered to discharge their statutory functions effectively and efficiently by giving them functional roles, fiscal responsibilities’. Almost nothing has been done either to decentralise the governance or to empower the Panchayats. In fact, the debate around the PRIs has totally gone missing. While some noise has been made about organising the elections of the Municipalities, but not much progress has been made in this direction and the Government does not seem to be in a hurry in this case. This is despite the fact that as per the existing PRI Act of the state, there has to be continuity of the elected bodies and that not more than six months must pass after the dissolution of these bodies before the next ones are elected.
What is surprising though, the debate around the empowerment of Panchayats has gone totally missing and it seems that for the present dispensation this issue does not form any kind of priority. There is neither any talk of putting in place the three-tier system of Panchayats or of providing the existing Panchayat at the village level their ‘functional roles, fiscal responsibilities’.
The agenda for Alliance lists a number of other areas of governance reforms including the institutional capacity building and people-public-private partnership; simplification of doing business in the state by reducing regulatory complexities , easing bureaucratic barriers; aligning the economic policy with resources, stills and society and so on.
Will this Government be able to pay attention to these issues? Much will depend upon the political environment of the state. The minimum that is required is the cohesion within the Government. With the two partners being pulled in the opposite direction such cohesion is difficult to attain. However, since completion of the full term of the Government is compulsion of both the parties, it is important for the alliance partners to remember that their future depends on how receptive their Government is to the issue of governance. In the ultimate analysis, the performance of both the parties will be judged on the basis of what they have delivered on the ground.
(Feedback welcome at rekchowdhary@gmail.com)
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