Rename Cong flagship health scheme after Bal Thackeray: Sena

In what is likely to spark off an acrimonious but pointless political debate, the Shiv Sena asked chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to rename Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayi Yojana, the Congress government’s flagship health scheme, after the late Bal Thackeray.

In what is likely to spark off an acrimonious but pointless political debate, the Shiv Sena asked chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to rename Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayi Yojana, the Congress government’s flagship health scheme, after the late Bal Thackeray. Public health minister Deepak Sawant of the Shiv Sena sent a letter to Fadnavis requesting him to initiate the process to rename it the Balasaheb Thackeray Jeevandayi Yojana.

Sawant claimed it was more than just a renaming exercise. “This is not a question of just renaming the programme after our leader, but giving it a new avatar and completely repackaging it with added features,” Sawant said. Sources in the CM’s office said that the renaming will take place soon.

Under the scheme, patients below the poverty line are given an insurance card and access to quality medical care worth Rs 1 lakh for certain specialty services, including surgeries, therapies and consultations at all public hospitals and some private ones. The scheme covers 971 surgeries, therapies and other procedures, and 121 follow-up packages in 30 categories. Sawant said that while all these provisions will remain, the renamed scheme will cover more types of surgeries and offer patients two free stents instead of one. It will also “plug several gaps”, he said.

Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant criticised the move, saying it shows the government’s “maturity deficit”. “When the scheme was formulated, it was done keeping in mind the vision of the late Rajivji and no one can take this away just by changing the name. We will oppose this move,” he said.

During its time in power, the Congress named many new schemes after its past leaders, and when the state’s budget was announced earlier this year, many new schemes bore the names of BJP leaders. A fund for the construction of shelters for the poor, was called the ‘Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Gharkul Jaga Kharedi Yojana’. Another scheme to protect forests in the state was named the ‘Shyamaprasad Mukherji Jan Van Vikas Yojana’. Mukherji founded the Bhartiya Jana Sangh, a forerunner of the BJP.