At long last, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had to step down. Like his ouster, Rawat’s appointment as CM was quite interesting.Most of the BJP leaders of Uttarakhand were averse to Trivendra Rawat taking over as CM four years ago. Only a handful of leaders were supporting him then. Despite widespread resentment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then BJP national president Amit Shah handed over the charge to Rawat just to send out a strong message to the leaders against his appointment. Some of these senior leaders of BJP had “joined” hands with the Opposition to ensure the defeat of Trivendra and Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, who was CM face of BJP before the last elections.This was seen as a challenge to the high command at that point of time.
However, under the changed circumstances after the last elections, these leaders willy-nilly accepted the high command’s choice, Trivendra Singh Rawat. But the resentment was there within. Now after four years, the same leaders got him removed from the post of CM. What happens in politics is that a leader gets just one opportunity, and his career gets destroyed if he or she fails to cash in on that chance. This is something that happened with Rawat as well. He did enjoy close proximity with the high command, but could not understand the nitty-gritty of politics due to less exposure and experience. Therefore, Rawat could not build his image. He went by the advice of a group of his handpicked officers, and as a result, got isolated from workers and leaders.
What is unfortunate is that the people for whom Uttarakhand was created could not get anything. There is no solid scheme for development of hills despite two decades after creation of the state. Unemployment is spiralling in the state. Dams over Alaknanada and Ganga rivers were constructed for power generation, but Uttarakhand witnessed two big tragedies due to such projects in the last two decades. People were hopeful of development when Rawat was given the charge of state, as he was close to the high command. But he turned out to be his predecessors who could not ensure any development in the state. They were focused on the development of their own. Rawat continued to earn the wrath of leaders by flaunting his closeness with the high command. The handful of officers around him did not let the real facts come out. Their attitude angered the media as well. His opponents took advantage of all this. They also succeeded because no leader in Delhi was there to come out in Rawat’s support.
Rawat’s decisions such as formation of new administrative division and renaming of Kotdwar sparked a massive row. Rawat is perhaps the first CM who saw the opposition from more than half of his ministers and MLAs. Not a single MP was in his favour. PM Modi is the most popular leader in Uttarakhand, but Rawat is seen as the weakest leader. It will not be an easy task for the BJP to win again in Uttarakhand elections next year. There is no denying that BJP will be banking on PM Modi for elections. But the party will have to give the charge of state to a leader whose image is clean. Several names are doing the rounds for the CM post before the meeting of all the MLAs on Wednesday. But the challenges are aplenty for anyone who gets the crown.