Use Gandhi name sparingly: Cab Secy

NEW DELHI: Shoddy implementation, corruption, delays and lowering standards are undermining the value of the Gandhis, the number one political brand in India.

When you drive on an Indira Gandhi highway riddled with potholes, drive into a Rajiv Gandhi circle, which resembles the dark side of the moon, study in Jawaharlal Nehru educational institution that has sub-standard teaching, do you trust these names, or do they become synonymous with the quality deficit that we expect from government programmes?

Perhaps the latter, right? Besides, such proliferation just perpetuates the idea of sycophantic Congressmen peppering the locality with the Gandhi name of their choice. As any brand developer will tell you, such familiarity breeds contempt.

The 'Gandhi-led' government has figured the same thing and has ordered that the Gandhi name should no longer be taken in vain.

According to an agency report, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar has "advised" the ministers to use "sparingly" names of national leaders like the Gandhis in their various programmes, as implementation of many of these programmes is "not always as ought to be".

Since at any given moment the number of programmes named after the Gandhis is considerable, Chandrashekhar said that, "The practice has become widespread and indiscriminate."

He said, "This reduces the value of identifying programmes with national figures particularly as implementation and impact of many of these programmes is not always as ought to be. As such, many of them do not merit such association."

"I have, therefore, been directed to convey that in the light of what is stated above there is need to be sparing and selective in associating names of the national leaders with such programmes to prevent proliferation of such nomenclature," he added.

The UPA government has often accused Opposition-run state governments of renaming Central projects to impose their political imprint on them.

Some of the biggest flagship programmes by the UPA government have been named after the Gandhi family — Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Indira Awas Yojana and Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission.