Himachal Chief Minister adds some out-of-the-box initiatives to his governance matrix.
The best leadership model is one that leads by example. This is a dictum that Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, clearly believes in. Barely six months after he took office, the hill state was hit by flash floods leading to landslides that left thousands homeless. The Congress Chief Minister appealed to the BJP-led central government for a Rs 8,000 crore special relief package in view of the unprecedented devastation. Sources in the CM’s office claim that all they have got so far is Rs 360 crore of their procedural due from the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF), which is given every year. And of this sum, as much as Rs 315 crore was pending from previous years, due to an audit objection. When the state government pressed its case, a further sum of Rs 189 crore was released by the Centre, despite the CM putting in an additional claim of Rs 12,000 crore as compensation for the devastation.
As expected, the BJP claimed otherwise and did its own maths to counter this, but while the politics went back and forth, the state suffered. That is when Sukhu and his wife delved into their own bank accounts and contributed Rs 51 lakh, their entire personal savings, to the Aapda Rahat Kosh, disaster relief fund. The state was quick to follow its leader; with even little children marching to the CM’s office, piggy banks in hand. An impressive Rs 225 crore was collected in what is easily Himachal Pradesh’s largest public donation drive.
A fourth term MLA, Sukhu had never held a ministerial post until he was catapulted to the CM’s chair. State politics and a turf war with former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh kept him out of the secretariat. But the 59-year-old Sukhu has always been a grassroots politician, working his way up from the party’s youth organizations. He caught Rahul Gandhi’s eye over a decade ago; and some say that had Sukhu won his seat in the 2012 state election, he would have been Rahul’s choice of CM even back then. Despite his electoral loss, he was made the Himachal Pradesh Congress chief and was often at loggerheads with Virbhadra who was then CM. In fact, Sukhu often comments with a wry smile that his politics has always been a two-tiered battle, fighting both a sitting CM and a former CM. (His constituency Nandaun is in Hamirpur and that is the turf of another former Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal from the BJP.)
Fast becoming part of the CMO folklore is the fact that the current CM got a mention in the popular Kaun Banega Crorepati show, when Amitabh Bachchan asked one of the contestants to identify which Chief Minister came up via the non-dynastic route. The choices were Naveen Patnaik, Chandrababu Naidu or Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. Clearly in an era where the chai-walla scores over the pedigreed dynast, Sukhu could be the right answer for the Congress, in more ways than one.
There are of course some who will disagree. Virbhadra’s widow and the then PCC chief Pratibha Singh was opposed to Sukhu’s elevation as CM, but she couldn’t sway the party’s decision as both Rahul Gandhi and later, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, supported his candidature. Those in the know say that Rahul made his preference clear when he ensured Sukhu’s appointment as the state Congress Campaign Committee Chairman for the 2022 elections. The Pratibha faction of the Congress (which includes her son Vikramaditya Singh) is something that Sukhu still has to work his way around, and this is a key part of his governance matrix. Another challenge is the popularity of Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri who was also a contender for the top job.
In fact, when the flash floods hit the state, there was a fear that Sukhu would not be able to control the situation, leading to talk of a regime change. But quick to read the signs, Sukhu did some damage control and was seen on the ground overseeing relief operations. So much so that in the recent Congress Working Committee meeting, he was singled out for praise by Rahul Gandhi. The Niti Aayog, too, has appreciated his efforts, with its vice chairman Suman Berry writing a note of appreciation to the CM for his proactive leadership in carrying out relief and rescue operations.
Politics aside, the Chief Minister’s real challenge will be how he shepherds the state back to normalcy. Since tourism and apple production is a major resource earner for the state, the CM’s main focus would be to rebuild the state infrastructure. His target is to woo as many as 15 million tourists in the coming year and for this, his government has identified tourist spots other than Shimla and Manali that need to be promoted.
Being the son of a bus driver, Sukhu has worked his way up the ranks, both within the Congress, and outside. It is this perspective that he brings to the CM’s office. His stints as the chief of the state NSUI and Youth Congress before becoming a councillor at the Shimla Municipal Corporation have given him a fair sense of inner party politics. Some of his colleagues from his Youth Congress days are now holding important portfolios in Team Rahul—a fact that does not necessarily work to his advantage.
There are a few out-of-the-box initiatives that merit mention. In April, the state government passed a bill amending the Himachal Pradesh Ceiling on Land Holdings Act to give daughters equal rights as sons. The earlier Act which dates back to 1972, allowed sons to hold an additional 150 bighas of land (surpassing the ceiling cap of 150 bighas) while this right was denied to the daughters. Now, with the amendment, married or unmarried daughters will have the same rights of land ownership as sons. It’s a progressive legislation that will go down well with the all-important woman vote. A more daunting challenge would be to try and reform the archaic tribal laws, a task which is in the CM’s In-Tray.
Another of his initiatives worth mentioning is the Mukhyamantri Sukh Aashray Yojana for orphans and the elderly. Under this scheme, around 4,000 orphans have become wards of state, with their education and other needs being taken care of until they turn 27 years of age. As the CM explained to The Sunday Guardian, the idea is not just to educate them, but also to settle them which is what parents do for their children, hence the increased protection for a few more years.
However, with the general elections less than a year away, the Chief Minister has his work cut out if he has to deliver all four seats in Himachal to the Congress. (This includes the Mandi Lok Sabha seat currently being held by his bete-noir Pratibha Singh). In the last Lok Sabha the Congress had won none and only managed to wrest Mandi in a byelection. While he has the support of the party high command (well, at least the Gandhi siblings), it is the local factions within the party that could be his main stumbling block. But then, despite his genial nature, Sukhu is a pragmatist at heart. He is often heard telling his colleagues, his policy is to live each day in office as if it’s the last. Somewhat along the lines of his favourite song from “Mera Naam Joker”—Kal Khel Mein Hum Ho Na Ho, Gardish Mein Taare Rahenge Sada. (People come and go, the stars in the sky remain forever).