Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief issued a show cause notice to the party MLA from Ujjain’s Alot constituency, Chintamani Malviya, after he questioned his own government’s decision to permanently acquire land belonging to farmers for the Simhasta religious fair scheduled for 2028.
The notice sent by BJP state president V.D. Sharma on 23 March said Malviya’s statements had affected the party’s image.
“For some time now, you have been criticising the party in public places. Your statements and actions have been affecting the prestige of the party and your behaviour calls for disciplinary action,” the notice said.
“As per the directions of national party president J.P. Nadda, you are being issued a show cause notice and expected to submit an explanation within seven days justifying why disciplinary action should not be taken against you.”
Malviya told ThePrint he hadn’t received a copy of the notice yet. “Once I get it, I shall keep my view before the respected members of the party,” he said.
The notice came after Malviya, also the state BJP unit’s vice-president and former Ujjain MP, criticised the Mohan Yadav-led BJP government decision to acquire land belonging to farmers for the Ujjain Simhasta at the ongoing budget session.
Malviya, speaking in the Vidhan Sabha on March 18, first thanked Chief Minister Mohan Yadav for allocating Rs 2 crore for the festival, before he raised the Simhasta land issue.
“Mohan Yadav is the leader of Ujjain. But I also want to point out that today the farmers of Ujjain are scared. Their land, which was earlier acquired temporarily for three to six months, is now being acquired permanently,” he said.
The BJP government has announced plans to set up a spiritual city spread across 3,300 hectares in Ujjain ahead of the 2028 Simhastha.
Seers and other religious leaders will be given space to set up their ‘ashrams’ in designated areas. The proposed spiritual city is also set to have schools, colleges and lodgings which will be developed with private players.
“I want to know which officer has given this suggestion of building a spiritual city. I want to say that spirituality does not dwell in a city. It is found in humans capable of sacrifice. It can’t be found in concrete buildings. We should all come together and request the chief minister to save the farmers of Ujjain,” the Alot MLA said.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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