I am poor, receive ration from state: Villagers homes 'painted' by Rajasthan govt

Jaipur: Congress leader Ashok Gehlot's tweet about a local media report claiming that the Rajasthan government is marking houses of BPL families has resulted in political mudslinging with the ruling BJP saying the previous
dispensation had begun it.

The media report tweeted by Gehlot also carries photos in which, "I am poor and I take ration through NFSA" (National Food Security Act), is seen written with red against a yellow colour patch on the walls of the houses purportedly belonging
to BPL families.

"What a shame, how admn in Raj is humiliating poor ppl! Putting boards outside homes declaring their poverty, is worst form of mental torture," (sic) the former chief minister had tweeted along with the local media report three days back.

The tweet resulted in a furor with people on social media blaming the state government for its anti-poor policies.

While the Opposition has accused the Vasundhara Raje government of "humiliating" the poor by "branding" them, the state government said it was actually the Ashok Gehlot dispensation that had started the practice.

State Minister of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Rajendra Rathore said, "The practice of identifying BPL families by writing BPL outside their homes was started by the Congress government through an order dated August 6, 2009."

"It is not right to politicise the matter. It was started by the Ashok Gehlot government. By writing BPL on the walls, not only valid beneficiaries are identified but also those ineligible for the scheme get discarded," Rathore had said in a statement.

"The BJP government did not order writing 'I am poor and I take ration through NFSA' on those walls. The matter will be investigated," the minister said on Thursday.

According to the local media report those graffiti can be seen on the walls of over 50,000 houses of families belonging to below poverty level in Sikrai and Bandikui tehsils. In some photographs, the graffiti was seen painted multiple times on
the walls of the same house.

Dausa's Additional Collector K C Sharma said the district administration had not issued any such order but the zila parishad could have issued the directive.