BANGALORE: The zeal with which Congressmen promote their leaders by naming projects or schemes after them is conspicuous by its absence in the BJP.
Take for instance late Pandit Deenadayal Upadhyaya, the economic ideologue of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh. The BJP government headed by B S Yeddyurappa had announced in the 2011 Governor’s address that the important works of Deenadayal would be translated to Kannada and made available to the people.
But not a single step has been taken to realise this.
One can find a housing scheme in the name of Rajiv Gandhi or a women-related project in the name of Indira Gandhi. And there are any number of schemes evolved in the name of Nehru or projects and dams named after either Indira or Rajiv.
Interestingly, BJP takes the name of Deenadayal whenever economic policy is discussed either in public or party fora, as a man who propounded an economic theory titled “integral humanism” — an alternative to both communism and capitalism. In its action plan prepared way back in 1985 and reiterated time and again, the BJP has declared that integral humanism would act as a fulcrum to all its political and economic programmes.
However, neither the government nor the party has bothered to take forward the idea to its logical end.
Similar is the fate of a veterinary college at Athani proposed to be named after late Bhaurao Deshpande, a front-ranking leader of the erstwhile Jan Sangh and BJP. The proposal is unable to come out of embryonic stage. Even health schemes named after former PM A B Vajpayee — Vajpayee Arogyasri — has run into rough weather, as has Atal Saarige, (rural mini bus service) which is conspicuous by its absence, despite it being launched three years ago.