Naidu Compliments YSR

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Mr. YSR, the CM, speaking about Naidu's manifesto

I learnt from my associates that Mr Chandrababu Naidu has released his party’s manifesto. The first thing that struck me about the manifesto is that it is an unwitting tribute to our government’s policies. Just about every promise represents a departure from Naiduism and towards our line since 2004.

I take it as a compliment to our governance.

Let me explain. Mr Naidu says he will give free power for 12 hours, health insurance, interest-free loans to farmers, etc. I humbly submit that we have already taken the lead in these schemes per se, be it free power, health insurance, low-interest loans, etc. Mr Naidu’s manifesto therefore abandons Naiduism and acknowledges our welfarist policies as the direction to take to do good to our state. The details may be different, but much of what he promises now we have been delivering for the last five years.

Even the methodology of delivery that his manifesto mentions is a tribute to the care we have taken to see that the benefits reach the deserving. I note that Mr Naidu says that the cash payout to each poor and middle class family will be deposited in the bank account of the woman of the household. This delivery innovation, I beg to submit, is a device our central government has used to ensure that the benefits of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme directly reach the worker himself and not through contractors or intermediaries.

The social groups he intends to reach with his promises are the very ones we have been reaching since 2004: farmers, aged people, women, youth and minorities.

I take each of this as a compliment.

Mr Naidu’s manifesto also suggests a five-day week for government employees. This is a pathetic pledge coming from Mr Naidu. It scarcely disguises his well-known antipathy to government employees. As the head of a ministry which held out real and tangible benefits to government employees -- in the form of pay revision and heightened dearness allowance and good riddance from overfrequent review meetings – I will draw attention to a few facts that will show where Mr Naidu actually comes from.

On 21 December 2002, at the height of his zeal for so-called economic reforms, then chief minister Chandrababu Naidu went to New Delhi for the 50th National Development Council meeting and said these prophetic words: “The main elements of reforms that both central and state governments should jointly address together may include the following:

    “iv) Downsizing if (sic) the bureaucracyIn country after country we are witnessing a downsizing of the bureaucracy.Some countries have had a period of public sector downsizing resulting inmore than 25 percent reduction of the workforce. Despite the recommendations of our Pay Commissions we have not made much headwayin downsizing government.”

Read the full text of Mr Naidu’s speech, full of the crusader’s zeal, here.

A 25 per cent reduction of the government work force? That is 25 per cent of 13,42500. That would have been 335625 government servants out of jobs.

I am staggered by the insensitivity and cynicism of this man who now makes cosmetic promises to the very sections that he wanted to sacrifice at the altar of his so-called reforms.