By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
Ravindrapuri Colony in Varanasi can be described as a posh location. In the Colony, there is an office which displays, of course, saffron colours and bears the name “Public relations office of Bharatiya Janata Party”. Although only three years old, this office and its name have an interesting story. It is a story of promises, expectations, and eventually turning into another gimmick from BJP.
In 2014, the newly-elected BJP government at the centre announced to open an office in Varanasi. At the time, the office was to be a mini PMO, from where several works of Prime Minister and city’s MP Narendra Modi were to be performed.
But when the party proposed the name of Amit Shah to inaugurate this office, opposition in Varanasi started protesting. The opposition’s objection focused on how a party person could inaugurate a Prime Minister’s office since it was a constitutional setup. So, this led to the office being renamed as MP’s Public relations office. And after a few months, it was turned into Bharatiya Janata Party’s public relations office.
Since its formation, this office has become a place for three things. One, to receive the complaints and application from civilians; two, to address and resolve the inner party disputes by party’s sub-senior leaders; and three, to perform as a platform to finalize the candidate’s tickets during elections.
Apart from these things, this office has imparted little importance to the other problems. Many people come to the office to submit various kinds of complaints, but apart from requesting the authorities to resolve the problem, the office can do little.
Sunil Kumar Yadav, a 32-year-old resident of Varanasi once submitted a request application to this office. Yadav thought of it as a mini-PMO and hoped redressal of his request. But Yadav, who filed a request to get a temporary job, received no response from the office. Yadav tells, “Mujhe kya pata tha ki ye Modi ji ka office nahin hai.(I did not know that it was not Modi’s office). But when I pursued a little for my request, then they told me that it was a party office.”
Yadav’s problem may have been peculiar to some, but there is no doubt that this office receives a lot of complaints from people who believe that this office is of Prime Minister Modi. But believing is one fact, and reality on the ground is very different.
As Varanasi earned ‘fame’ for being submerged in sewage water in monsoon season, trashy roads and continuous traffic problems, many problems which reach this office belong to this category. The road between the localities Kamaccha to Khojwan is not well maintained, and bikers have to be extremely careful to negotiate between massive stones lying on the road.
Residents have complained on several occasions about the maintenance of the same road, but nothing has happened yet. Shekhar Tiwari said, “I submitted a complaint at this office, but nothing has happened. You get a mouthful of dust every day when you pass by this road at any time.”
Hard to find person in charge, even harder to get them to work
The office, which is basically a large room with air conditioning, takes the liberty of being closed at any given hour at a day. As it is not a government structure, (which many people do not know) Shivcharan Pathak, the main man in the office, and other employees, go on leave as and when they feel like. This correspondent had to go twice to find the office open and Pathak available.
Upon entering the office, you notice that the left side of the room has tables and chairs for those who manage the office, and in the far left corner, there is one cubicle which BJP leaders, cabinet ministers, MPs and now MLAs use during their visit to the office.
On the left side of the room, Shivcharan Pathak sits in the middle. At his table mini flag of India and an Ashoka Stambh is placed along his nameplate.
It takes a little time to realise that Pathak is sceptical of a media person before him. When we question him about how and why people’s grievances are not being addressed by the office, he says, “It is not like that. We deliver our best to those complaints. But there are many cases, where requests are strange to work upon.”
But the office does not hesitate to receive ‘strange’ requests. It is because that office “do not want to disappoint anyone”, at least that’s what office-bearer Pathak said. Just yesterday, one man reached the office with the complaint to resolve the ChotiKatwa problem – an issue which is creating fear among north Indian population – when Urban Development Minister Suresh Khanna was addressing the grievances at this office. The office had to pay attention on this unwillingly, as Pathak told, “Kya karenge? Ajeeb-ajeeb problem lekar log aa jate hain? (What to do? People do come with strange problems).”
Pathak also completely denies the idea that this office has anything to do with Narendra Modi as a PM. He limits Modi to his role of an MP of a city, and said, “It is a public relations office. Here we take request concerned to the MP also.”
It becomes clear that BJP does not want to land in the controversy by involving the Prime Minister’s post in a setup which is managed by party cadres. That is why the officials at MPs PRO do not clearly state the purpose.
The office solely depends on MLAs, MLCs and influential party leaders of the city to resolve the complaints received. As Pathak said, “We have five MLAs now (referring to Varanasi as a Loksabha consituency). Apart from that, we have few MLCs, corporators and city’s mayor in people’s service.” When asked how they go about resolving a problem, Pathak said, “We request the right authorities to resolve the issues. That is all one can do.”
Talking about the ‘mini-PMO’, one senior official from Varanasi municipal corporation told TwoCircles.net, “Yes. We get calls and letters from them. We usually assure them of carrying out the work, but we have our own pile of complaints. First, we have to work on those, because those are official.
“And I don’t understand their authority of raising orders and complaints,” he added. With Yogi Adityanath in the state, officials and the party members are hopeful of early resolution of the problems.
The office is a matter of ‘external affairs’ for party supporters and leaders in the city. They are usually called at the office in times to resolve any family dispute, which they find ‘disappointing’ and ’embarrassing’. Prahlad Yadav, a 28-year-old member of BJP told, “There was one case where the marriage of one girl was in danger. So she reached Modi Ji’s office. One active city leader was called there to resolve the issue. He did not go, as It was insulting.”
The office has no particular setup to ensure that the number of applications received are counted. But as office-bearer Pathak, the number of applications has not reduced even after three years. He said, “Even if we are able to resolve the problems, next day the complaints pile up again.”