Volunteers’ network may be game changer for YSRCP
More than 2,50,000 volunteers, appointed at a monthly honorarium of ₹5,000, have virtually turned into foot soldiers for the YSRCP
The village and ward volunteers’ system introduced by the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in August 2019 with an objective of delivering the benefits of various welfare schemes at the doorsteps of beneficiaries has turned out to be a big asset for the ruling YSR Congress Party in the coming elections to the state assembly and Lok Sabha.
More than 2,50,000 volunteers, appointed at a monthly honorarium of ₹5,000, have virtually turned into foot soldiers for the YSRCP, as majority of them are local youths, recommended for the appointment by the local YSRCP leaders.
Each volunteer has been entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring delivery of government benefits to 50 beneficiaries. While village volunteers operate in the rural areas, ward volunteers do the job in the urban areas.Since these volunteers are working at the grassroots, they have built up the profiles of the voters at the micro-level over the last four and a half years – including their socio-economic status, caste, religion and even their political inclination.
The data gathered by the village and ward volunteers has come in handy for the ruling YSRCP to analyse the possible voting pattern in the ongoing elections. At a meeting held with the volunteers in February, Jagan described them as “brand ambassadors” of his government and asked them to become star campaigners for the ruling party.“You have been my young army, extending selfless service to the people with unflinching commitment and delivering welfare benefits of various schemes transparently to the beneficiaries since 2019,” he said.
Jagan also asked the volunteers to play a key role in YSRCP victory in the forthcoming elections by effectively countering the misleading election promises of TDP and its allies.
Last year, the Jagan government involved village and ward volunteers in assisting the officials in the voters’ enrolment process, leading to protests from the Telugu Desam Party, which alleged that the volunteers were enrolling bogus voters and deleting genuine voters from the voters’ list.
Following a complaint from the opposition parties, the Election Commission in August last year, issued orders asking the village and ward volunteers to keep away from the election-related works.
But what triggered uproar is an order issued by the EC on March 30 this year, barring village and ward volunteers from distribution of pensions to various categories of pensioners at their doorstep in the wake of enforcement of model code of conduct.
The EC acted on a petition filed by Citizens for Democracy, a non-governmental organisation headed by retired IAS officer Nimmagadda Prasad. It asked the volunteers to deposit the handheld devices (mobile/tablets/any other) provided to them with the district election officers till the completion of model code of conduct.
As a result of the EC order, lakhs of pensioners could not get their pensions on April 1. Though the EC asked the state government to make alternative arrangements for distribution of pensions through other regular government employees, the official did not take timely measures, leading to unrest among them.The ruling YSRCP exploited the situation to its advantage and accused the opposition parties, particularly the TDP, of depriving the old people of their pensions.
YSRCP general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu was afraid that the volunteers helping the poor people would affect his chances. Hence, he got the system stalled by moving the EC.“Elderly people, who had been getting pensions at their doorsteps every month for the last four-and-a-half years, would now suffer due to the selfish politics of Naidu,” Reddy alleged.
Following a call given by the YSRCP, thousands of volunteers resigned from their posts, alleging that political motives were being attributed to them unnecessarily, though they were doing selfless service to the people.
Chief electoral officer Mukesh Kumar Meena said as on the date of commencement of nominations on April 18, at least 44,163 volunteers resigned. “Another 1,017 have been removed from service for openly working for the ruling party,” he said.
After quitting their jobs, the volunteers have started working as full-time activists of the YSRCP in the elections. Since they have the micro-level picture of the voters at the booth-level, the YSRCP is able to take their help in influencing the voters.
The chief minister announced at a recent rally in Tirupati that he would reinstate all the volunteers soon after coming to power. “Just wait for June 4, when the election results are out. We are going to come back to power and the first file I am going to sign is to revive the volunteers’ system,” he said.
The TDP, which has been opposing the volunteers’ system since its inception on the ground that they were acting as YSRCP workers, has now realised that the blind opposition to the system would prove counterproductive to its electoral prospects, as the system has been helping the poor at the grassroots level.
After the controversy over pension distribution, the TDP president told reporters on April 10 that his party was not opposed to the volunteers’ system per se, but had only questioned the way some of them were behaving like YSRCP workers.
“If the TDP is voted to power, we shall not only continue the system of volunteers, but also enhance their remuneration from ₹5,000 per month to ₹10,000 per month,” he said.