Y.S. RANA ,CHANDIGARH—DEC 30—By Tuesday 2012 is over and we have just to enter a new year, do not think we have crossed the hump, 2013 may be yet more worsted to the new state government in Himachal Pradesh. The government will turn the chronological page without discarding the baggage of problems nor there is any evidence to suggest that any government has learnt any lesson. The results that far out-stripped the Congress’s expectations have given the party a huge boost of morale but also a basket of challenges.
Though the BJP appalled at the verdict yet for the Congress the time starts now. Most of the people of Himachal Pradesh stayed awake late into the early hours of Tuesday morning to welcome the formation of new government in 2012. For insomniac government, however, the other 364 days of the year 2013 does not represent a choice but to work. The government will have to awake for hours because sleep does not come because of heavy responsibilities.
And if all Congress leaders hang on with power in Shimla rather than work, then it will be in a sorrier state next time. There is no reason for the Congress to rejoice. The Congress in the State is a hollow shell. It needs reorganization on one hand and on the other to fulfill the aspirations of the people.
There is no one ‘most’ important challenge before the government but it has to face a volley of challenges with dawn of New Year. Present thinking among Congress leaders ignores the fact that rise of Congress and fall of BJP are the two sides of the same coin in the state.
The new government has to face a number of challenges—education, health, economy, price-rise, unemployment and rampant corruption. It has to tackle socio-economic situation prevails in the state and is responsive to mass deprivation and livelihood issues.
Just where did the BJP go wrong? Himachal Pradesh has a history of rejecting incumbent regime. The state is at risk of drowning in debt; rising health care costs; rampant corruption pushing state into crisis. With some creative and thoughtful solutions, government can accomplish the goal. The government should govern the state without boundaries. The government work is routed in large-scale, repeatable routine; this hierarchical bureaucratic model needs to be changed.
How do you craft agendas and plans, set priorities and allocate resources across boundaries in the state that are then accepted as legitimate, credible and trusted by all those affected. At last, results really do matter. It should adopt policies in tune with the changing ground reality and Virbhadra Singh should walk together with opposition.
So Shakespeare’s words, in Henry IV “Uneasy lies the head that wears crown”, are true in more than the literal sense. It is certainly not necessary to avoid power, responsibility, and even wealth. But we should accept them as a kind of sacred trust and fulfil the obligations they lay on us in a spirit of humility and selflessness.