Change in Chhattisgarh: On the new BJP government and the road ahead

The BJP has effected a generational shift in all the three States where it won in the Assembly elections recently. In Chhattisgarh, Vishnu Deo Sai’s elevation as Chief Minister was not entirely surprising unlike the picks in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. His experience as a Union Minister and party State president were what weighed in his favour; he also happens to belong to a tribal community. Above all, he is trusted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. His appointment is expected to boost the BJP’s State politics ahead of the Lok Sabha election. The party had won all 14 seats in the northern tribal belt of Sarguja, and its tribal outreach continues. One of the two Deputy Chief Ministers, Arun Sao, who had replaced Mr. Sai as the State president last year, is from the dominant Sahu OBC community in the plains that both the Congress and the BJP woo. He hails from the Bilaspur region where the contest between the two parties was the closest. A similar caste and regional balancing act is associated with the appointment of Vijay Sharma, a Brahmin, as the second Deputy Chief Minister. Mr. Sharma, a first-time MLA, defeated Mohammad Akbar, a Congress veteran and the only Muslim Minister in the previous government.

The BJP has 10 more slots in the Council of Ministers to be filled, and it will be guided by considerations of caste and gender balancing. The new government will have to hit the ground running — from fulfilling economic promises, including the construction of 18 lakh homes for the rural poor, giving the outstanding bonus on paddy for 2016-17 and 2017-18, i.e., the last two years of the previous BJP government, and disbursal under Mahtari Vandan Yojana of ₹12,000 every year to all married women, to conducting a swift probe into the corruption allegation that the BJP levelled against the Bhupesh Baghel regime earlier. It must also resolve the stalemate over two Reservation Amendment Bills that provide for a 76% quota in jobs and educational institutions. These Bills, passed unanimously by the previous Assembly, have been withheld by Raj Bhavan. With a BJP government at the helm indicating an end to the tussle that the previous government had with the Governor, a swift implementation of the proposed changes under a tribal Chief Minister is likely to boost the BJP’s credentials before the Lok Sabha election. The new government will also have to take a view on the Swami Atmanand English medium schools and colleges, touted as a major achievement by the Congress government. Urban voters decisively turned in favour of the BJP in polls, and the new government will have to pay attention to their concerns.