When the Mahant of Gorakshapeeth in Gorakhpur was made Mahant of Uttar Pradesh, eyebrows were raised. It was speculated whether Yogi Aditya Nath would be able to take this politically sensitive State to the path of development as Chief Minister. A month down the line, Yogi has been able to send the message loud and clear that he means business.
The biggest test for this Government was controlling law and order as well as improving work culture in the Government offices. Thirty days is too small a time to judge any Government on these two parameters. But the indicators available clearly indicate that the Yogi Government has been able to instill belief among masses that this Government has come with new ideas.
UP has never witnessed what Yogi has done. He took charge on March 19 but carried out his first bureaucratic reshuffle in the third week and another reshuffle when he completed 30 days in office.
It has been routine that with change of Government, the first decision any Chief Minister takes is carrying out bureaucratic reshuffle.
The Yogi Government is working with just one Principal Secretary and three Special Secretaries in its secretariat while the previous Governments had a team of 10-12 bureaucrats.
Interestingly, Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar and DGP Javeed Ahmad who were appointed by the previous Akhilesh Yadav Government have not been changed even after a month. During elections the BJP had called DGP a ‘Samajwadi pawn’ and had petitioned Election Commission to change him.
Deputy CM Dr Dinesh Sharma told The Pioneer that the Yogi Government means business. The bureaucracy is the tool which delivers decisions taken by political masters. “We want these officers to deliver and they are working as per the desire of CM. That’s why they have not been transferred,” he said.