THE GREAT GAME: Sukhu takes the road less travelled

HIMACHAL Pradesh chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu must be intimately familiar with the Hindi heartland metaphor ‘raja-runk’ or ‘king-commoner’, which signifies the gaping chasm between those born with a silver spoon and those whose parents toiled hard night after night for their supper. This March, it would have been whispered across Shimla, in public space and private quarters — hissing through the clammy cold season, insinuating itself across both rebel and loyalist camps — when fellow Congress MLA Vikramaditya Singh mounted his rebellion against Sukhu and nearly wrecked the state government.

Only southern states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which are far richer, have been able to touch the subject of power subsidy.

It took all the wily chutzpah of the southern Congress leadership to pull the frozen fat out of the fire. As Vikramaditya, son of six-time Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh and former raja from the erstwhile princely state of Bushahr, waited for the party high command to throw its weight behind his insurrection against the commoner Chief Minister — and no doubt, instal him in his place — Sukhu played his master card. The son of a former Himachal Roadways bus conductor, he put out that he had risen through the party ranks. That he had promised to eliminate corruption, just as the Gandhi high command had insisted. That he had never been swayed by the temptations offered by the BJP.
In the end, Vikramaditya wavered but never quit the party, unlike six other rebel MLAs and three Independents. Four of the six rebels lost in the recent Assembly bypolls (they may have cursed their turn of fate). Moreover, Vikramaditya lost to Kangana Ranaut from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat — another masterstroke by Sukhu, who may have encouraged the younger, high-profile colleague to reach for the stars. The CM consolidated his position when his wife, Kamlesh Thakur, won one of the seats that had fallen vacant during the March rebellion.
But this unusual politician has not been content to rest on his laurels. Unlike Punjab next door, which is simply unable to balance its books because it has over-promised a variety of goodies, especially on the free power front, for decades — Himachal’s Sukhu not just went back on his 2022 campaign promise to provide 300 units of power free of cost to every family, he recently announced withdrawal of the subsidy to the affluent.
There were key strings attached. The power reform will only apply to taxpayers. The free units’ amount has come down from 300 to 125 — a promise made by the previous BJP government. Those availing the subsidy will be restricted to “one family, one meter” (in Punjab, rich people who live in the same house have several meters installed so they can avail 300 units of free power per meter and officials say they can do nothing). All electricity connections will be linked to ration cards or Aadhaar cards. All those who have installed meters without a no-objection certificate will have to pay.
Sukhu’s move hasn’t attracted the attention it has deserved, but it fully deserves to. Power reform is especially unpopular anywhere in the country — but the comparison between Himachal and Punjab is especially stark. Never mind that Himachal has a much smaller population (77 lakh against Punjab’s 3.17 crore), is largely hilly unlike the flat, fertile lands of the plains, and far less dependent on the cultivation of water-and-free power-guzzling wheat and paddy.
Sukhu is smart. He clearly has ambitions for his state — if Himachal does well, he knows he will look good. By defanging the snakes in his own backyard (Congress rebels voting against the official candidate in the February Rajya Sabha election were called ‘kaale naag’) as well as those outside, he has successfully consolidated his position. This has enabled him to take the political risk to touch the hugely sensitive subject of taking money out of the pockets of the people.
In this age of social media, and therefore instant gratification, this is hugely creditable. Only southern states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which are far richer, have been able to touch this subject and that too with trepidation. Sukhu has clearly taken a leaf out of their book. Kerala brought down its power subsidy in November 2023 to only 30 units. Tamil Nadu gives only 100 units free. Sukhu put out that the state is broke; that the total debt had crossed Rs 85,000 crore; that the state electricity board had accumulated losses of Rs 1,800 crore just in 2023-24 (the board gets a grant of Rs 950 crore from the state government).
The government hopes to save a mere Rs 200 crore from the reform. But just look at who will have to start paying their electricity bills — all serving and former ministers, all sitting and former MPs, all sitting and former MLAs, all IAS, IPS and state-cadre officers, all Class 1 & 2 officers as well as other income taxpayers.
Clearly, Sukhu is a role model not just for the rest of North India, but also for the rest of the country. Like Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who in the recent Budget reduced the subsidy for food, fertilisers and fuel by 7.8 per cent (from Rs 413,466 crore to
Rs 381,175 crore), Sukhu is one of the few politicians who understands that it’s hugely important to streamline government expenditure. He knows elections are three years away, so it’s a good idea to get the pain over with early. It is said that he may likely next touch the subsidy for water — right now, water is practically free across the state — and even free travel for women. He is also planning to merge schools with low footfall (less than five students per class), transfer the teachers to schools where there aren’t any and use the extra buildings for libraries.
Perhaps there’s a long distance between the cup and the lip. But if Sukhu can succeed in reinvigorating his hill economy, he will stand out in a group of men permanently supplicating at the Delhi Durbar — by refusing to do so. Perhaps it’s too early to tell. For sure, the jury is still out. But if the signs are what they are, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s journey will be an interesting one to watch.