Let's hail the new HP government

                             

Let us applaud the BJP. The choice of Shri Jai Ram Thakur as the HP CM has a stamp of wisdom, political sagacity and foresight. Credit goes to the dramatis personae – the king-makers – who kept vested interests at bay, stayed above petty considerations and resisted all kinds of pulls and pressures in making this choice. It is in fact a master stroke.

First and foremost, Mr Jai Ram Thakur is ‘Mr Clean’. He comes from a humble background and therefore has his feet rooted to the ground. A man of action rather than words, he is also known for being upright, suave, decent, humane and not bogged down by the trappings of power. 

Look, how he has already given a decent burial to the unwholesome ‘topi politics’ that was being practiced for so long by both the Congress and the  BJP top guns to symbolize and foster the divide between the state’s ‘old’ and the ‘new’ areas. (Imagine, one top leader even refused to wear a cap at a public function which had a band of a different colour than the one epitomized by him!) Further, Mr Thakur has asked people to desist from touching his feet. ‘Respect comes from the heart,’ he said. I personally feel that when it comes to politics, feet-touching is demeaning and is the crudest form of chamchagiri. But our politicians love their followers and favour-seekers to pay them obeisance by touching their feet and even prostrating before them: it gives their false  egos a big high. Then, the new CM has also expressed himself against fresh flower garlands being used for welcome.

Well, small little steps these but enough to suggest how he is some notches above and different from the common breed of power-drunk, self-serving politicians in our land.

Second, his anointment heralds the long awaited beginning of a new era. Era of generational shift.  Era of investing in youth and vesting political leadership in the hands of the young. Himachal politics direly needed this switch-over to rid it free of the stranglehold of the old and the ‘tired and retired’  clutching the seats of political power and perpetuating dynastic hegemony. It is like a breath of fresh air which will infuse new vigour in the state’s political landscape.

Third, it fills a big void by giving much deserved and long awaited representation to the district of Mandi, denied for so long. Kangra is equally, if not more, deserving of a CM’s position but you all know as well as I do who to blame for this!

Mr Thakur’s elevation to the high chair is also a slap across the face of the Congress which has been obdurate and impervious to change and has kept beating its same old drum. The bold but sane voices in its cadres have either been silenced, and such people marginalised or simply chucked out. It has not let the old order yield place to the new. Instead of grooming young new dynamic leadership imbued with vision and idealism, it has let the old dynastic culture to proliferate and fester. Even the high command let itself be arm-twisted and let itself dance to the tune of those who wanted their own ends served at any cost.

Perhaps Rahul Gandhi will take a leaf out of Himachal BJP’s book, take bold initiatives and use a strong purgative to impart new energy and vitality to the state Congress without much delay.

Be that as it may, we, the people of the state, have reasons to rejoice at this welcome change. And it is now for the new CM and his team to deliver and make Himachal Pradesh a model state with its unique and new agenda of holistic, handsome, environment-friendly and sustainable  ‘development’.

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