Farmers Movement Archive

Uttarakhand: Poll fear forced BJP to take back Devasthanam Board law, says Harish Rawat

DEHRADUN: As the Uttarakhand government announced dissolving of the Char Dham Devasthanam Board, the state unit of Congress attacked the incumbent BJP saying the party acceded to its mistake only due to the fear of a crushing defeat in the upcoming assembly polls, scheduled in the early part of 2022. Following the state government's announcement of rolling back the contentious law, senior Congress leader and former state chief minister Harish Rawat said, “Fear of humiliating defeat in the 2022 assembly elections forced the BJP to take a politically-driven move to cover its failure in the last five years.” Referring to the recent U-turns on the three farm laws and the devasthanam board, he told TOI, “In the wake of assembly elections in Uttarakhand and Punjab, the BJP governments – at the Centre and the state – are desperately trying to make amends to hide their failure and anti-people policies.” Rawat pointed out that despite Congress raising the issue of the board on various platforms, it took two years for the BJP government to repeal it. “Everyone knew that the Act was against the sentiment and tradition of Uttarakhand since its introduction. I want to ask the government why such a law was passed in the first place. Secondly, if a mistake was made, then why did it take over 24 months for the BJP government to realise it. The BJP leaders were well aware that a humiliating poll defeat was imminent if they don't repeal the law. The decision has nothing to do with the interest of people. It is just an attempt to hide failures of a party, which changed three chief ministers in an election year,” said Rawat. Echoing a similar sentiment, Pritam Singh, leader of opposition, said, “We have opposed the bill right from the very first day. The issues we raised were genuine but the government overlooked them. No one was taken into confidence and the issue was not discussed with the stakeholders.” The five-time Chakrata MLA added, “The incumbent chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, who was a legislator when the bill was tabled in the House also didn't oppose it. Now, as a CM, he has overturned the decision. This shows that he does not have the courage nor the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. The BJP has been exposed before the people.”

The Times of India

2021-12-01

Dehradun