One year of governance and still no poll promises fulfilled by the DMK govt
When DMK won the election and assumed power in Tamil Nadu a year back, many people were hopefully looking forward to a state of better governance after having seen the performance of the AIADMK government over several years. Having made many promises during the poll campaign which were impressive, the natural expectation of people was that such promises would be fulfilled competently.
When one would try to evaluate the performance of one-year governance under the leadership of M K Stalin, it is appropriate that people tend to compare it with the earlier Edappadi governance.
DMK government has been accusing former AIADMK ministers of indulging in corruption, raiding their houses, and arresting one minister and statements have been released about several hundreds of crore of rupees worth of cash, gold, etc., that have been seized during the raid. Many people believe that such allegations could be true and some former ministers could have been corrupt.
Nevertheless, people tend to conclude that the overall Edappadi governance was much better than that of Stalin governance.
Common men are of the view that politicians and ministers belonging to the DMK government are no less corrupt than the AIADMK ministers and there is nothing to choose between Stalin governance and Edappadi governance as far as corruption and nepotism are concerned. Several allegations made about the corruption of DMK ministers by the state BJP president Annamalai are believed to be true by the people.
What is even more striking is that a few of the ministers in the Stalin government are facing corruption and criminal charges in court. A number of ministers in the Stalin government were earlier senior members of the AIADMK party and were criticized by Stalin during the pre-election campaign.
The financial conditions of the Tamil Nadu government are in extremely bad shape with cumulative debt exceeding Rs.7 lakh crore. The Stalin government has done nothing significant about reducing the debt burden through better finance management. Instead, it is taking another Rs.90,000 crore of the loan with no time-bound plan for repayment of the debt[1]. Several public sector undertakings in the state like TANGEDCO, transport corporations, and others are in deep red and no meaningful strategies have been developed to revamp them.
Apart from the above, the excessive focus of the Stalin government on Hindu temples and the move to take the gold from Hindu temples and use them to boost the government’s finances have shocked the Hindu community. People have not missed noting that Stalin would not greet Hindus during Hindu festivals but greet Christians and Muslims during their festivals, which has made even the pledged admirers of Stalin suspect that he has an anti-Hindu mindset. Several Hindu temples have been demolished and age-old Hindu religious practices are being blocked or criticized, the latest being the imposition of a ban on the forthcoming procession of Dharmapuram Adheenam.
The interference in the field of education in a variety of ways and the move to appoint the Chief Minister as Chancellor of Universities is a matter of high concern.[2]
The excessive focus of the Stalin government on the NEET exam is creating huge doubts about the priorities and thought processes of Stalin and his ministers. Many people believe that this is really a non-issue and the government is wasting its time on such matters.
The conflict with the state governor by the DMK government now appears to be motivated and is marring the political discourse in the state considerably.
When Stalin started his governance, he appointed a committee of economic experts including a Nobel laureate to advise him on reviving the economy of the state. It appears that the committee has not met even once so far in the last one year.
So many other committees have been constituted on a variety of subjects and one loses the count.
The campaign to promote the Tamil language has now deteriorated into a campaign to hate the Hindi language.
The anti-Hindi moves of the Tamil Nadu government will not help the state in any way and are counter-productive and discerning observers realize this.
The net conclusion after watching the one year of Stalin’s governance is that the DMK governance has lost focus and is really drifting and appears to be losing an opportunity to take the state forward in multiple directions.
Stalin promised many things before the election, out of which was to impose prohibition. On the other hand, liquor consumption in the state has increased considerably during the last one year, doing great damage to the social fabric and family life in the state. While liquor sale brings much-needed revenue to the government, it appears that the DMK government is not particularly concerned that women are suffering, murders and violence in the state have increased and even school students misbehave and social scientists say that such disturbing conditions are developing, as the liquor consumption is increasing in the state by leaps and bounds.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
Reference:
[1] Tamil Nadu govt plans to borrow Rs 90,116 crore during 2022-23: Finance Minister PTR – Mar 18, 2022, Indian Express
[2] Chief Minister should be made Chancellor of State Universities: Ponmudy – Apr 25, 2022, The Hindu
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Both AIDMK and DMK being not sure of their longer term survival, their only objective is to loot and make as much as possible. Improving the state and its people are only on election manifestos. Secondly, being almost certain to get the 35-40% the votes from the jihadi and conversion mafia why will they care about any Hindu interests, especially when they can buy another 10-15% votes from their freebee schemes?
One of the great moves would be to take out all the reservation benefits to converted SC/ST community, but it needs someone like Yogi, and not the current gutless HM.
As someone who supports any viable opposition to DMK in TN, I can say — this is neither dispassionate nor analytical. To defeat them, we need truly objective, truly dispassionate analysis of what makes them succeed.
Stalin’s government must realise that he has to manage Tamil Nadu along with the central government to bring prosperity to India as a whole. He cannot at all cost create fictional issues against BJP central government for the sake of him and his government relevence in TN politics. As a smart CM, he should find amicable ways to solve issues like NEET by discussing with center to bring win win situation rather then pitting a strong opposition. Similarly Language issue can be handled with more tact without losing the relevence of Tamil as major lingua franca. Interferance in Hindu temple traditions and culture will inflame the predominant hindu people that this DMK is against the Hinduism and only against hindu gods. Being secular means Religion has no role in political governance and similarly Government and State has no role in the practice and tradition of any religion. Both have responsibilities for harmony among populace.