Bhopal, Mar 7 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday paid rich tributes to Congress stalwart Arjun Singh, saying his style of functioning was unique and he came to be regarded as ‘Chanakya of politics’ as the CM unveiled a long installed life-sized statue of the late leader in Bhopal.
Arjun Singh, who died in 2011 at the age of 81, served as a Union minister, Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh and Punjab Governor during his decades-long political career.
“Arjun Singh became a prominent political leader not because of any party or institution, but because of his personality. He was considered as ‘Chanakya of politics’,” Chouhan said after unveiling the statue of the Congressman near Vyapam Square in a function.
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader recalled that Arjun Singh became the Governor of Punjab at the height of militancy in the northern state and played a key role in signing of a historic peace accord between then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Akali leader Harchand Singh Longowal in 1985.
“Whatever he had said, he had done it. He described himself as “pratham sevak” (first servant) before the people of Punjab after becoming the governor of the trouble-torn state and ensured the signing of the Longowal accord,” he said.
As Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh in the 1980s, Arjun Singh was instrumental in surrender of dreaded dacoits of that period, Chouhan pointed out.
His style of functioning was unique and as Chief Minister he participated in a progamme organized by the BJP on the occasion saffron party ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya’s birth anniversary, he said.
The Congress veteran, a strong critic of the BJP in his lifetime, came to take part in the function without compromising on his ideology, “something which is unthinkable in today’s politics,” Chouhan remarked.
Speaking on the occasion, former chief minister and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh credited the late leader for his own political achievements.
“Whatever, I am today is because of him (Arjun Singh). His style of working was unique. He was a man of few words, but whatever he used to say he used to implement it. It is not possible to describe him in words,” Digvijaya Singh said.
The late leader efficiently fulfilled his responsibilities when he served as a Union minister, chief minister, governor and Opposition leader during different stages of his political career, said the Congress Rajya Sabha MP.
Former Madhya Pradesh minister and Arjun Singh’s son Ajay Singh, while expressing his gratitude towards the BJP government and the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) for installing the statue, said, “He contributed immensely in every field he served and it was because of him that Indore became the first city in the country to have both – an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and also an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).” The function was also addressed by Arjun Singh’s daughter Veena Singh and former Union minister Suresh Pachouri, among others.
The late Congress leader’s life-sized image was first installed in 2018 at the New Market tri-section in place of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad’s bust which was shifted to a corner after a Madhya Pradesh High Court order restricting installation of statues and busts in between the busy traffic junction, official sources said.
After protests, the statue of Arjun Singh was shifted near Vyapam Square when the BJP came to power in March 2020 after the collapse of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government.
But the statue remained covered since then and was finally unveiled on March 7.
Congress workers demanded that the place where the statue has been installed be named “Arjun Singh Chouraha.” PTI MAS RSY RSY
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