As he completes two years in office, YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy appears to be growing stronger and stronger with every passing day.
He has firmly entrenched his party among the people, making it difficult for any political party to pull it down in at least for the next one decade.
The outcome of the recent elections to the gram panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations and the by-election to Tirupati parliamentary seat have proved that Jagan is an invincible leader and that his welfare-oriented rule has gained the support of the people. And the only opposition party Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is left totally in tatters.
Right from the day one of assuming office, Jagan’s only objective has been implementing the welfare agenda, enunciated in his manifesto, come what may. And he did it effectively, braving all odds – Coronavirus pandemic and crippling financial position. He openly declared that he had borrowed loans to deliver social justice to every section of people.
In a way, it was social engineering at its best by the Jagan government in the last two years. He ensured that not a single section of people is left out in the implementation of welfare schemes. He even covered upper castes like Brahmins, Kapus and Reddys, besides minorities.
The welfare agenda in the name of “Navaratnalu” (nine jewels), a slew of populist schemes, that began during the first year, picked up pace during the second year of Jagan’s rule, notwithstanding the Coronavirus pandemic, consolidating his vote bank and fetched him tremendous mileage in the local body elections.
Apart from a large number of direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes like Amma Vodi, YSR Asara, Jagananna Vidya Deevena, YSR Zero Interest Scheme etc., Jagan introduced schemes for every section of the society like farmers, weavers, lawyers, autorickshaw drivers, hawkers, fishermen etc. The distribution of 25 lakh house sites for the weaker sections on December 25 last was the height of his welfare agenda.
Needless to say, they have all turned into trusted voters of the YSRCP. The three-lakh-odd village and ward volunteers, who were appointed during the first year of his rule to deliver the benefits of various government schemes at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries, have turned into a virtual Jagan army, which helped him win every election that the YSRCP fought.
No doubt, Jagan has not able to take up any major developmental works – no new roads or highways were laid, no big industries have come up and no major irrigation or infrastructure projects have been taken up. Most of them have remained only on paper and even Polavaram major irrigation project has been going on at a slow pace, thanks due to non-release of funds from the Centre.
But Jagan has definitely focussed on social infrastructure that immediately attracts the people – particularly, education and healthcare. Brushing aside the objections from so-called intellectuals and academics, Jagan focussed on reforming education by introducing English medium in all the government schools and implementing the CBSE syllabus.
He has also taken up creation of proper infrastructure in the government schools through Nadu-Nedu programme. He encouraged enrolment of students in the government schools in a big way by implementing schemes like Amma Vodi, Vidya Deevena, Vasathi Deevena etc.
Similarly, his government is also focussing on improving healthcare infrastructure, like introducing 1,180 state-of-the-art mobile clinics and ambulances in the 104 and 108 services to provide emergency medical care to patients during emergencies, besides providing free treatment to the poor in the hospitals through YSR Arogya Sri scheme.
