The Congress government in Chhattisgarh on Monday night issued an order to rename five schemes that the previous BJP government had named after Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. The decision has been taken by the state Ministry of Urban Development. Out of the five schemes, two have now been named after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, two after her son and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and one after Dr BR Ambedkar.
The order said the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Svavlamban Yojana has been renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Swavalamban Yojana, the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya LED Path Prakash Yoajana has been renamed the Indira Priyadarshini LED Path Prakash Yojana, the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Ajeevika Kendra Yojana has been renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Ajeevika Kendra Yojana, the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Shudd Peyjal Yojana has been renamed the Indira
Priyadarshini Shudh Peyjal Yojana and the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Sarv Samaj Manglik Bhavan Yojana has been renamed the Dr B R Ambedkar Sarv Samaj Manglik Bhawan Yojana.
The BJP has has alleged that the Congress is resorting to “revenge politics” and that the ruling party is doing nothing to improve these schemes. Former Chief Minister Raman Singh said the move was deliberately made a day after Upadhyaya’s death anniversary and that it showed the “Congress mentality”.
Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi defended the move. “These schemes were renamed after Deen Dayal Upadhyaya for his centenary year celebrations in September 2016. Now that it is 2019, the Congress is simply restoring the names, and the BJP shouldn’t have a problem with that. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya was a follower of RSS ideology and if the Congress changes the names of these schemes, then why is the BJP disturbed with this?”
Asked if the Congress could have named the schemes after regional or local icons, Trivedi said, “This is only a restoration. It is amply clear from the actions of the state government that we respect local icons and figures.”
