Akhilesh Yadav, who had put all his weight behind maintaining the grand alliance with the Indian National Congress, had indirectly taken a jibe at the people for choosing Bharatiya Janata Party, with the following quote:-
“….Votes aren’t won by explaining things to people, they are won only by threatening people….”
After 2 months of Yogi Adityanath’s ascent as CM of UP, it looks like Akhilesh said in his own context, to hide his own cupboard overstuffed with the skeletons of his own sins haunting him day and night. With the revelation of RTI information regarding his government, it doesn’t look like Akhilesh Yadav will get away that easily?
Remember the Yash Bharti Samman?
The equivalent of Padma awards launched by our very own Mulayam Singh Yadav, who would dismiss rape incidents as ‘the mistake of boys’, it was reinstated when Akhilesh Yadav stepped up as UP CM in 2012. Apparently, Yash Bharti Samman was given to those people hailing from Uttar Pradesh, who had excelled in the following fields:-
- Entrepreneurs
- Political Changemakers
- Artists
- Singers
- Musicians
- Actors
- Sportsmen and Sportswomen
- Adventurers etc.
An inquisitive RTI activist, Mohd. Khalid Jilani, hailing from Bareilly, decided to find about the beneficiaries of the same, and the list of perks they received from the ex-government. Only a week ago, through RTI, his request was finally accepted, and the information was sent. However, not only Mr. Jilani himself, but anyone who read the report which is public, was in for a rude shock. Originally, with the award, the recipient received the following:-
- 11 lakh cash prize
- A Shawl
- A Citation of the Award
Apart from that, the recipients, since 2015 apparently, had started receiving Rs. 50000 per month as monthly pension. Yes, you heard that right, over 65 recipients or so, who had been awarded the Yash Bharti Samman, were receiving a monthly pension of the amount which would have been the starting salary for a novice in any major IT sector or management company.
Interestingly, following are some of the recipients of the monthly pension, happily milking it without any fuss:-
- Raj Babbar, actor and Congress politician, and his wife Nadira Babbar
- Muzaffar Ali, famous filmmaker
- Abhijeet Bhattacharya, famous playback singer,
- Malini Awasthi, folk singer
- Anoop Jalota, folk and devotional singer
- Founder and manager of CMS schools, Jagdish Gandhi
- IPS officer and mountaineer Aparna Kumar
- Anurag Kashyap, Filmmaker
- Vishal Bhardwaj, Filmmaker
- Suresh Raina, 1St Indian centurion in International T 20 Cricket
- Mohd Kaif, ex Captain of the 2000 Under 19 ICC World Cup winning team, and India team member
- Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui,
- Singer Kailash Kher
- Comedian Raju Shrivastava.
While most of our sportsmen and the men in uniform, who protect us both at international states and the internal states die in penury, our ex CM was very busy in squandering tax payers’ money on people, who didn’t even need that monthly pension. Ironically, wasn’t he the same man who campaigned for the ex armyman Ram Krishan Grewal who had committed suicide over One Rank One Pension issue, with this:-
There were some sane souls as well, who refused the monthly pension, their names as follows:-
- Amitabh Bachchan, famous National Award winning actor
- Rajpal Yadav, illustrious Bollywood comedian
- Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan, ex actress and SP politician
- Abhishek Bachchan, actor
- Naresh Trehan, Chairman and Managing Director of Medanta
- Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Flute Player
- Jaspal Rana, Asiad and Commonwealth Games gold medalist
- Vishambhar Singh, Wrestler and World Wrestling Championship Silver Medalist, 1967
- Vijay Kumar, Journalist
- Ranveer Singh, volleyball player
On an interesting note, the complainant, Mr. Jilani was anguished at the blatant misuse of public expenditure. In his words, “………that the government was wasting public money by giving pension to those celebrities. Jilani appealed to UP CM Yogi Adityanath to stop giving pension under this scheme…….”
He even pointed out a discrepancy, that was exercised by a sitting MLC, Urdu poet Jahid Hasan ‘Wasim Barelvi’, who was receiving the monthly pension under the Yash Bharti Samman, despite receiving allowances as an elected MLC, which was in blatant violations of the code laid down for sitting lawmakers of the state.
In his words, “The lists of beneficiaries who receive monthly pension include Jahid Hasan ‘Wasim Barelvi’ who is Urdu poet and MLC and is already receiving allowance from UP Vidhan Parishad. Instead of spending crores on affluent dignitaries, the money can be utilised in welfare projects.
………….According to section 8 (1) of monthly pension of Yash Bharti Samman rule 2015, the state government can cancel pension without giving notice or explanation to beneficiaries. I appeal to CM Yogi Adityanath to discontinue pension under this section.”
With the exception of Saharanpur carnage, given how Yogi Adityanath, we do expect that the sins of Akhilesh Yadav are removed from the tables of UP government.
However, if Yash Bharti scam teaches us something, it is this: don’t gloat on power, it can be a two faced sword, both beneficial and harmful at the same time.