Uttarakhand may hope to get back on the path of development with the BJP-led NDA Government that had granted special status to the mountainous state for accelerating its industrial growth during its earlier stint, having come back to power in Delhi.
It may be recalled that the Congress-led UPA Government had withdrawn the special industrial package accorded to the mountain state by the BJP-led NDA Government after it had returned to power over 10 years ago. The then BJP Government in the state had urged the Congress- led UPA Government to reconsider its decision in regard to the withdrawal of the special package granted to Uttarakhand, but the Manmohan Singh Government at the Centre had kept sitting tight on it.
Although the State Government tried to give necessary push to the state’s industrial growth by framing up a special hill industrial policy and some other promotional measures over the years, the mountainous state kept on vegetating as regards the developmental index, particularly in the realm of industrialisation.
Interestingly, even after the Congress Government came to power in Uttarakhand in 2012, a friendly Centre did not listen to the state's persistent plea for providing it with a special industrial package. However, now as Anil Baluni — hailing from Uttarakhand — having found himself in BJP’s newly constituted national team as a national spokesperson has brightened the State’s possibility to come to terms to its long-elusive dream of industrial turnaround.
“Uttarakhand had been granted a special package meant to usher in development, particularly on the industrial front during the BJP-led NDA regime. But the Congress-led UPA Government having withdrawn the privilege forced the state to remain mired in gloom for years. This smacked of arrant step-motherly treatment to Uttarakhand,” alleged Baluni, while talking to The Pioneer. “Now apart from my organisational responsibilities, my job is also to push Uttarakhand ahead by way of firming up plans and policies in coordination with the Government to ensure that growth of the hill state is adequately boosted.
The night of discrimination has ended, yielding to a new dawn of robust developmental hope,” he added. However, asked whether Uttarakhand's representation would remain restricted to only a post in the recently re-jigged BJP’s national team, Baluni parried the question, saying that the party’s central leadership has to decide things while keeping the national perspective in view. “Restructuring of the party is a routine process. Hence, responsibilities are given accordingly,” he added.