As the crucial state elections and the big general elections draw closer, the political parties are losing no opportunity to claim credit for what they have done and increasingly also for what they have not done. And, as this piece discusses, some are, bafflingly, refusing to take credit for what they have done.

Anyone who follows the ruling party’s speeches and campaign, what stands out is that Right to Information (RTI), Food Security Bill and Right to Education Bill are among the three major accomplishments they are going to people with. But, as more and more people are now pointing out, all these bills are nothing but what the NDA government had already done and what the UPA has done is to merely give it a new nomenclature.

Let us look at the RTI Act, which, in more ways than one has been a game changer. The act was enacted and assented in June 2005, when UPA had been in power for a year. But what was RTI really? It was nothing but the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2002 that was enacted by the NDA government.

In fact, the aim of the act was the same as the RTI and, as this letter dated January 30, 2003, from the then secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) shows, the government had started moving towards promoting it.

Other than calling it the “beginning of a new era in approach of government functioning where openness shall now be the rule and secrecy an exception”, the letter went on to ask all secretaries to “provide before hand the requisite infrastructure in the form of rules etc.”

In fact, so serious was the NDA government about this act’s implementation that the letter from the DoPT said: “the provisions contained therein give the Act an over-riding effect in character. In keeping with this, we would suggest that an immediate review may be undertaken for all such Acts and Instruments administered by the Ministry and amendments made thereto, wherever necessary, so that the scheme is not subverted through the operation of conflicting provisions in these Acts/Instruments.”

The letter then went on to say “suitable action may be taken on priority basis so that there is no cause for delay in brining the act into force”, before concluding: “As the entire infrastructure for bringing the Act into force has to be set up within the shortest possible time, I shall be grateful if the above aspects receive your personal attention.”

This was January 2003. RTI came in 2005. If one were to analyse, bluntly put, it is nothing but a case of the UPA coming to power and sitting on it for a couple of years, give it a new name and then take credit for it. In fact, Aruna Roy and Arvind Kejriwal have, perhaps, worked harder to popularise and take it to the masses than any of the large political parties.

And it is not just this. Even the Right to Education Bill, which is once again seen as a game changer, was actually conceived in 2003 as something called “Free & Compulsory Education for Children.”

If you dig the net and the social media, there are plenty of other instances available where something that was thought through and started during NDA was appropriated by the UPA after a slight break by merely giving it a new name.

Of course, when in Delhi, how can one forget about what is easily the most successful large project undertaken in the country after independence, the Delhi Metro? The current CM, Sheila Dikshit has appropriated the infrastructure as her baby. But the facts tell a different story.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was set up jointly by the government of India and government of Delhi in May, 1995, when the Delhi CM was Madan Lal Khurana. Total ground work and planning was done in the subsequent two-three years and construction started in 1998, just when Sheila Dikshit took over as the CM. So, if anything, the credit goes to now severely ailing Khurana and not the lady who has garnered all the accolades for the project.

But all this brings one to the point. Why has the BJP, indeed the NDA, shied away from claiming credit for things which they have done? Doesn’t it seem strange that the ruling party goes to town claiming credit for every scheme considered a game changer in the country, while those who are actually responsible for it, protest meekly or give it a miss altogether.

I am unable to understand this strange reticence on part of the principal opposition party that is hoping to make a comeback. In the minds of the young voters, and their number would be more than significant in the coming elections, RTI, RTE and Delhi Metro, among others are ALL the handiwork of the Congress and the UPA. Why wouldn’t the BJP tell them what the truth is? I fail to understand!