india

Updated: Apr 30, 2020 11:27 IST

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Madhya Pradesh (MP) on Wednesday stoked another controversy when its agriculture department set up a Kamal Suvidha Kendra in its directorate’s information technology (IT) cell in a bid to redress farmers’ grievances.

The main opposition, Congress, was quick to seize on the nomenclature and the timing of the launch, as kamal (lotus) is the ruling party’s electoral symbol.

The Congress accused the BJP of hankering after publicity amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

“The BJP leaders’ hunger for publicity amid the Covid-19 tragedy has astonished the people. State agriculture minister Kamal Patel, who has a kamal ring to his name, couldn’t have come up with a more inappropriate name than Kamal Suvidha Kendra. The minister used the opportunity to not only publicise his own name but also the BJP’s electoral symbol,” alleged Narendra Saluja, state Congress president’s media coordinator.

“Earlier, CM Chouhan’s photograph was inserted in ayurvedic herbal packets that were distributed by the state government. The BJP has launched a campaign selfie with a mask as if the mask is a symbol of entertainment. The BJP leaders are rejoicing the occasion and busy with their self-promotion when MP has emerged as one of the Covid-19 hotspots in the country,” he added.

Saluja was referring to CM Chouhan’s announcement on Monday, where he had said that the state government’s Amrit Jeevan Yojna aims to distribute 10 million packets of ayurvedic herbs to help people boost their immunity to combat SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, and other viral infections.

Chouhan’s photograph is printed in a leaflet that’s inserted in each of herbal product’s packets.

State Congress spokesperson Ajay Singh Yadav alleged that the BJP was pushing its electoral agenda via this herbal therapy scheme.

State BJP leader Dr Hitesh Bajpai, however, countered the Congress for its bid to “raise irrelevant issues and demeaning the role of an effective opposition”.

“If the Congress is so averse to the name Kamal, then will it ask the party’s state president Kamal Nath to drop his first name?” he asked.

The state government’s order to redress farmers’ grievances across the state got lost amid the political slugfest.

“A true friend of farmers ­­--- Kamal Suvidha Kendra --- has been set up in the agriculture department’s directorate’s IT centre to receive suggestions and redress grievances of farmers across the state,” said the order issued by the department’ director.

The centre would function between 10.30am and 5.30pm on all working days and two employees would be posted there, it added.