Patauda, Jhajjar: Signalling a widening rift in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana, Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh has said that his party and its leaders are confined to a “small area” in the state and they need to get out of the Ahirwal region, i.e., the Gurugram-Rewari-Mahendragarh belt dominated by Ahir community.
His comment at a rally in Patauda village in Jhajjar district Thursday is seen as an attempt to put his hat in the ring amid talks in the party circles about the possibility of a change of guard in Haryana to beat growing anti-incumbency against the Manohar Lal Khattar government, which has been struggling to tackle the farmers’ agitation against three contentious land laws.
“Jitna bhi humne yogdaan kiya, kya uska vajib inaam humko mila? (Has there been a suitable reward for the contributions I made)?” the Gurugram MP asked the gathering, adding that he didn’t want an answer to the question but was leaving it to their discretion.
Singh’s rally outside the Ahirwal region, in Jat-dominated Jhajjar, was seen as a show of strength by the five-term MP, who was said to be upset about Union minister Bhupendra Yadav’s Jan Ashirwad Yatra in the region a few weeks back.
Yadav hadn’t kept Singh in the loop about his rally, said BJP sources. After Singh distanced himself from all meetings and rallies of Yadav’s yatra, the party high command had to broker a truce between the two.
The Gurugram MP’s rally in Jhajjar to commemorate the ‘martyrdom’ of Rao Tula Ram, a key leader of the 1857 rebellion, at the ‘Shaheedi Diwas Samaroh’ was attended by state BJP chief Om Prakash Dhankar, and party MPs and MLAs among others.
“Aaj BJP aur inke neta, thode se kshetra mein hi simat ke rah gaye hain. Kya hum sirf Ahirwal ki ladai ladenge ya kissi din Panipat ki bhi ladne chalenge (BJP and its leaders are confined to a small area today. Are we going to fight only in Ahirwal or shall we fight in Panipat too)?” he said.
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Rift in Haryana BJP?
In what was seen as a veiled dig at Bhupendra Yadav, Singh said there were two ways to become a minister — one, to be parachuted from the top by the party, and the other, by rising from the bottom with support of the people.
Yadav, a two-term Rajya Sabha MP who is a confidante of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has never contested a direct election but has made valuable contributions as an organisation man. He was made a Cabinet minister in the last revamp of the council of ministers by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July.
Singh is a minister of state (Independent charge) in the Modi government.
Singh said he wanted to speak his ‘mann ki baat’. He was a BJP MP and ‘Modi’s wazir’ and did not want anything else from the party: “Main jiss thaali mein khaata hun, usmein chhed nahi karta (I don’t bite the hand that feeds me).”
He also had a message for his ‘enemies’, saying that he was contemplating retirement. However, due to their constant jibes he had decided that he would not retire at all. “Why should I retire? I am healthy, I have no mental problem, no blood pressure. So why should I retire then?” said the 70-year-old.
Other events at the rally
The rally was marked by the conspicuous absence of CM Khattar, who was barely mentioned during the four-hour-long rally, with no presence of him in any of the posters either.
A source close to Singh told ThePrint that Khattar had not even been invited to the rally.
Posters for the Shaheedi Diwas were visible more than 50 km from the venue, with photos of Singh, his daughter Aarti Rao along with photos of different BJP leaders in the state. However, none had Khattar’s image.
Singh, who hails from the royal family of Rewari, stressed the need to speak to farmers and enter into a dialogue with those who have been protesting at the state’s borders.
His daughter, Aarti, also announced her decision to contest the next election with the support of the people. She was denied a ticket in the previous election. She added that the fight was still on and that his ‘virodhis‘ (enemies) must be quivering seeing the presence of the people at the rally and Singh’s popularity in the state.
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