UP result highlights: Post-UP landslide, BJP’s 2019 work cut out — performance will be key

LUCKNOW: With the Lok Sabha polls just two years away, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh will have to get its priorities right and achieve tangible results so that it can seek a fresh mandate with confidence, and hope to repeat its impressive performance in the 2014 general elections and the assembly polls.

BJP has returned to power in UP after 14 years and won a clear majority after two-and-a-half decades. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made several big promises and assured delivery, the people look up to him with renewed optimism. Their appetite whetted, the masses expect them to be delivered soon.

Moreover, since the BJP is now in power both at the Centre and in the state, its government cannot make any excuses if it fails to live up to its development promise. Here is a list of challenges before the BJP before 2019 Lok Sabha elections:

SABKA SAATH, SABKA VIKAS
The first challenge for the new government in Uttar Pradesh will be to assure all sections of the society that it is not vindictive to any community or caste.

BJP had run an acrimonious election campaign in which its leaders, including Modi, attacked political opponents for appeasement of some castes (Yadavs in case of SP and Jatavs in case of BSP) and the Muslims. The party is also associated with the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya that led to the dismissal of the Kalyan Singh government.

The BJP dispensation in UP must ensure that while it shuns appeasement, there is no discrimination.

LAW AND ORDER
Kalyan Singh is still remembered as a chief minister who was effective in ensuring law and order and controlling the crime rate. He had also posted honest cops and bureaucrats in key posts. The people would expect this from the new BJP government.

Since Modi has also promoted talent in the bureaucracy, both as chief minister and as PM, expectations are high in UP. Land grabbing by mafias, security of women and other crimes are major concerns.

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
Akhilesh Yadav woke up only after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and tried to sell the Agra-Lucknow Expressway — the deadline was met in a jiffy — and the Lucknow metro.

Both the projects are still half-baked. The condition of state highways and roads in cities and towns of UP is worse than neighbouring states, including Bihar. This must be a priority area for the BJP.

INDUSTRIALISATION
UP would arguably have the most number of closed sugar mills and most disenchanted sugarcane growers. The state still lags behind in industrialisation, with lack of adequate power being one of the reasons. UP is a laggard when it comes to industrialisation. This is also a reason for migration of youth to other states for employment.

FARMER WELFARE
Modi had promised that the first decision of the BJP government in UP will be waiver of all farm debts and loans. With the BJP declaring that the welfare of the poor and rural folk are its topmost priorities and its outreach to the OBCs and Dalits, development of the hinterland cannot be ignored.