Chandigarh: Known for his “on-the-spot justice” and for pulling up senior officials for their inaction, Haryana home and health minister Anil Vij donned a different hat Saturday morning. In a lighter moment, sitting on a park bench in Ambala Cantt, the minister was seen singing the famous Bollywood song ‘Ramaiya Vastavaiya’ from the movie Shree 420 with around 20 people joining him in the chorus, clapping and swaying in rhythm.
“This was on Saturday morning in a park at Ambala Cantt and those singing in chorus with the minister are all morning walkers,” Vinod Kumar, a public relations officer from Haryana’s Information and Public Relations Department, told ThePrint.
This wasn’t the first time that the minister donned his singing hat. On 7 March, Vij was seen humming another Bollywood number ‘Teri Mitti Mein Mil Jawan’ with singer B Praak when the latter came to meet him at his office in Chandigarh.
But according to Vij, he is just “a bathroom singer”. Speaking to ThePrint Saturday, the minister said, “I often like to sing, and gossip on various issues with people of my constituency who meet me during my morning walks in Ambala Cantt.”
“Earlier, I used to go to Sadar Bazar where newspaper dealers and hawkers sit. I used to read morning newspapers and enjoy tea with my people. That place earned a sobriquet of ‘tea point’ because of my sittings. However, due to traffic in Sadar Bazar, I have now started going to Netaji Subhas Chandra Park at Ambala Cantt,” Vij added.
Asked if this was because he had free time since he discontinued his fortnightly darbars on alternate Saturdays, Vij replied that given the number of people who turned up Saturday despite his announcement on 26 March, he was reconsidering resuming his darbars.
“I sit at the park from 8-10 am. The darbar starts only after 10. Even today, I heard grievances of a number of people who came from across Haryana and sat with them till 2.30 pm, until I finally left for an appointment with a physiotherapist, leaving a few waiting to meet me,” the minister added.
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Popularity of Vij’s darbar
On alternate Saturdays, Anil Vij held his darbars where people from across the state used to come with their grievances. Normally, the darbars would start at 10 am and last till well past midnight.
During his darbars, Vij would call up officers and give them a dressing down whenever he would see a lackadaisical approach on the part of the authorities.
When a 27-year-old woman approached Vij and showed her a video of two men accused of duping her of Rs 25 lakh having tea with cops in Pundri police station of Kaithal, Vij immediately rang up the SP and asked him, “Band kar du thana main kya? (Should I shut the police station?)”.
Vij also used to suspend officials at the drop of a hat during his darbars.
“It all started with my weekly meetings with people from my constituency every Saturday. Gradually, people from the neighbouring constituencies started coming to my darbars, and eventually, the event started taking the shape of huge events where 5,000 or more people would turn up with their grievances,” Vij told ThePrint.
Since it was humanly not possible for his staff to process such a large number of complaints in a week, Vij converted these into fortnightly darbars, he added. “The way a large number of people have approached me today, despite my announcement, I am seriously thinking of starting these meetings again,” Vij said Saturday.
According to Pawan Kumar Bansal, a political observer and author of two books on the politics of Haryana, the popularity of Vij’s darbars was giving sleepless nights to many in the state.
“After the electoral defeat of the BJP stalwarts from Haryana, Ram Bilas Sharma, Captain Abhimanyu and O.P. Dhankar in 2019 assembly polls, Anil Vij is the only BJP leader who can be seen as a challenge for Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar,” Bansal told ThePrint Sunday.
Vij, a four-time MLA, won his first election in 1990, while Khattar, though a senior pracharak, became MLA for the first time in 2014. If anyone can be a challenge for Khattar within the party, it is only Vij, Bansal claimed.
He added that the manner in which Vij had been pulling up senior police officers, including superintendents of police, many senior officers who wield a considerable influence in the government were also feeling uncomfortable with Vij’s darbars.
Bansal said, though Khattar has also started his programme “Jansamvad” to meet people from Bhiwani earlier this month, there is a huge difference between Vij’s darbars and the one held by the CM.
From April 2-5, Khattar had a sojourn at Bhiwani where he held “Jansamvad”, an interaction with people where hundreds of people met him.
“In CM’s darbars, be it Khattar or any of his predecessors, the grievances coming before him are first filtered by the officials and only those are allowed to meet him who don’t cause discomfort to the CM or the officials. This is not the case with Vij’s darbars where anyone can just walk in with their grievance,” said Bansal.
On 25 March, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar told officers, including DCs and SPs to give two hours daily to listen to people’s grievances in a move that was seen in political circles as a way to minimise the number of people coming to Vij’s fortnightly darbars. Shortly after the CM’s announcement, Vij declared that he was discontinuing his darbars.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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