OPINION | Who fears Yogi's shadow on Himachal? And why?

The controversy arose after Himachal Pradesh urban development minister Vikramaditya Singh on Wednesday told a meeting of municipal corporation and urban development ministry officials that all food establishment owners will have to prominently display their names.

A day after several Congress leaders, including T.S. Singhdeo, Tariq Anwar and Imran Pratapgarhi strongly objected to a Himachal Pradesh minister's diktat mandating all street vendors and food establishment owners to follow the 'Yogi model' in displaying their names prominently, the state government on Thursday evening clarified that no such order has been issued and the matter is still being studied by a House Committee of the Assembly.  The controversy arose after Himachal Pradesh urban development minister Vikramaditya Singh on Wednesday told  a meeting of municipal corporation and urban development ministry officials that all food establishment owners will have to prominently display their names. Clearly, the Congress government in HP was taking a cue from the 'Yogi model' being implemented in UP. Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi spoke to Rahul Gandhi and demanded withdrawal of the order. Another Congress MP Tariq Anwar said he would write to the partry president demanding his intervention. Former Deputy CM of Chhattisgarh T S Singhdeo said, it seems such steps are being taken "to isolate a particular section of society and Congress would not support this." 

Vikramditya Singh's mother and Himachal state Congress chief Pratibha Singh supported the move, but after both mother and son were summoned to Delhi by party high command, Vikramaditya Singh backed out saying that no such order has been issued and the matter is before a House Committee. He said, anybody from any part of India was free to come to Himachal Pradesh and do business. The moot question is, why did the Congress forced its minister in HP to drop the idea? Was it because this idea was based on 'Yogi model'? Was it because that a similar step was taken by the BJP government in UP? At least, Congress should not object, because it had been saying since 2014 that Modi government was only implementing Congress schemes, with different names. Congress even claimed that the Swacch  Abhiyan (cleanliness movement), Jan Dhan scheme and Make In India scheme were initiated by the party. 

In UP, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claims copyright on each of the welfare schemes implemented by Yogi government. Then why this political storm over Shimla? The real reason is: fear of losing Muslim votes. The first objections were raised by Muslim leaders in Congress like Imran Pratapgarhi and Tariq Anwar, who portray themselves as champions of Muslim voters. They feel that by following the 'Yogi model', Congress may lose Muslim voters. This is the reason why the Himachal minister was forced to change his stand. The same Himachal minister had earlier described the constructions at the controversial Sanjauli mosque in Shimla as illegal. The minister stood in the state assembly, and openly warned that this illegal mosque could pose a danger to peace in Shimla, but the next day, he had to change his stand. The U-turn taken by minister Vikramaditya Singh and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's government on Thursday makes it quite clear that the order to display names of owners of food eateries would no more be implemented. 

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