Raipur, Feb 13 (IANS): The Congress, which returned to power in Chhattisgarh by ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which ruled the state for three consecutive terms, has renamed seven schemes.
While the BJP has called the move undemocratic, the Congress says it has corrected the BJP's mistakes.
In an order issued on Monday, the Urban Administration Department changed the names of five schemes.
The Deendayal Upadhyay Swavalamban Yojana and the Pandit Deendayal Upadhaya Ajivika Kendra Yojana will now be named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and the Deendayal Upadhyay Sarvasamaj Manglik Bhavan Yojana after father of the Indian Constitution B.R. Ambedkar.
The Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay LED Path Prakash Yojana will be known as the Indira Priyadarshini LED Path Prakash Yojana after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Deendayal Upadhyay Shuddh Peyjal Yojana likewise.
The Labour Department on Tuesday renamed the Rajmata Vijayaraje Kanya Vivah Yojana to Minamata Kanya Vivah Yojana and the Deendayal Upadhyay Shram Anna Sahayata Yojna to Shahid Veer Narayan Singh Shram Sahayata Yojana.
The BJP questioned the Bhupesh Baghel government's decisions.
"The decision of the Congress is completely undemocratic. The names of schemes named after Pandit Upadhyay were changed on his death anniversary. This is against political values," Leader of Opposition in Assembly Dharam Lal Kaushik told IANS.
Contending that schemes named after great personalities should not be changed, he said that such changes were a "reflection of polluted political mindset".
"If the Congress wants to name schemes on great personalities, it should start new schemes. Changing the names of schemes in which the Congress had no contribution is wrong," he added.
Justifying the move, Urban Administration Minister Shivkumar Dehriya told IANS that the renamed schemes were originally named after late former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. When the BJP came to power, it had changed the names of these schemes after Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay.
He said that the schemes should be named after those people who have contributed to the country and the state, and Upadhyay did not contribute to Chhattisgarh.
Dehriya also said it was the BJP that started changing names and the Congress is only correcting its mistakes of the BJP. He also said that it is the right of the government in power to rename schemes.