On Tuesday, Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath announced incentives for industries hiring 70 per cent local workers. During a press conference, when Congress President Rahul Gandhi was asked about the announcement, he said, “I will discuss it with Kamal Nath”.
The newly appointed CM of Madhya Pradesh, in his first press conference, said, “Our schemes of providing incentives of investment will only be imposed after 70% people from MP get employment. People from states like Bihar and UP come here and local people don’t get jobs. I have signed the file for this. We have laid the first condition to generate jobs for local people and only those industries that promote jobs for local will get incentives”.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference regarding the farm loan waiver in Madhya Pradesh. There, he criticized (as expected) Modi government and said, “We will not let PM Modi sleep until loans of all farmers are waived”. But when someone asked him about the ‘70% jobs for locals’ promise made by Madhya Pradesh government, he said, discussions will be held regarding the issue. It seems that there is a lack of coordination between the central and the state leadership of the Congress party.
Congress’ spokesperson, Pankaj Chaturvedi, when asked about the issue as it will promote regionalism said that it is completely unfair and unwarranted to compare Congress’ announcement to a Shiv Sena-like model. While Shiv Sena’s politics is based on hatred; ours is purely based on strengthening our state’s economy. He further added that CM Kamal Nath, in his statement, specifically mentioned that there is no hatred or animosity against those who come from neighboring states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. They are very much welcome to come and work in Madhya Pradesh’s industries. There are no restrictions whatsoever.
The question is whether the Congress party is becoming the new Shiv Sena. It seems like that because allowing incentives for employing local populations gives heed to regionalism.
BJP’s spokesperson of Madhya Pradesh, Anil Saumitra criticized this announcement and said, “A national party has to work to keep national integrity intact – not just one state’s integrity”. Earlier, Kamal Nath government had waived off the farmer loans but a lot of riders were attached to it, leaving a very little percentage of farmers eligible to get benefited by the scheme.
MP CM’s statement landed badly among his allies as well. Former UP CM and one of the members of Mahagathbandhan, Akhilesh Yadav condemned his statement. Also, UP CM, Yogi Adityanath and CM of Bihar Nitish Kumar criticized Kamal Nath’s statement. State government’s decision of putting local agendas forward will not only promote regionalism but also give birth to hatred among people of various states.
Things seem to be exacerbating for the Grand Alliance as well. Mahagathbandhan is going to have a tough time in resolving its internal conflicts before the Lok Sabha elections. Many leaders of Mahagathbandhan are raising their voice against Congress party on one issue or the other. Also, Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav lashed out against Stalin when he put forward Rahul Gandhi’s name as the PM candidate of Mahagathbandhan for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
