After forfeiting his position as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, DigVijay Singh was soon called to Delhi by Congress High Command and appointed as Party Spokesman. Mr.Singh keenly concentrates on his duties and tries his level best to steal the limelight often by inviting controversies. As the blue-eyed boy of High Command especially Rahul Gandhi, he is always at the service of 10 Janpath so runs the grapewine. Chidambaram Vs DigVijay Singh, the recent alleged disclosure of Hemant Karkare’s apprehensions of Sangh Parivar threatening his life over the issue of Malegaon bomb blasts allegedly perpetrated by elements owing allegiance to Sangh Parivar and Kavita Karkare, wife of Hemant Karkare rubbishing DigVijay disclosure, Mr.Singh always discovers something to be in the lime-light. Let him continue the game as long as possible.
Madhya Pradesh evolved into a citadel of Bharatiya Janata Party after DigVijay Singh’s party Indian National Congress getting badly mauled at the hustings. Such a result was its own undoing. Then it was BJP’s turn with Uma Bharti donning the role of Chief Minister. Ms Uma Bharti couldn’t continue for a long period as she was always fond of courting controversies also engaging in squabblings with the leadership, throwing tantrums at party forums frequently and the fed-up leadership showed her the door and appointed a youthful leader Shivraj Singh Chauhan in her place. Good.
Shivraj Singh’s administration and some of his popular reforms could bring cheers to the lips of a section of masses and that was the reason why overcoming anti-incumbancy factor, he assumed the position of Chief Ministership the second time. But one thing needs to be pointed out here is, true to the ideals and traditions followed by his party – BJP – while remaining a youthful leader he is a conservative to the hilt. The leader being conservative, the followers too tread in the foot-steps of the leader. The Hindutva philosophy – it is something entirely different from Hindu religion – being a narrow concept, the leader and followers too are narrow-minded on the matter of Hindutva. The reverberations of which manifest along the length and breadth of the State.
Examples are countless. Still even in the first half of the 21st century, the society of Madhya Pradesh is caste-ridden, caste divisions being prevalent and no bridges are being built to nullify those divisions, caste divisions still exist. These caste divisions contribute to the lower castes still continue with their traditional jobs and they undergo harrowing times, remember, providing each family with grains and food items at affordable rates alone is not at all sufficient for the uplift of the downtrodden. Women and children are the worst sufferers hence women empowerment is of primary importance as also children.
The foremost thing needed to alleviate their lot and to lift them up from the deep ditch are health and education. A growing awareness of remaining educated to be at a par with the educated lot should have to be imparted among them is the need of the hour not only across Madhya Pradesh but throughout India.
The govt of the day should have the political will to wipe-out the caste divisions to put an end to the gruesome incidents of honour-killing prevalent in the Northern States of Haryana, Delhi, UP, Bihar, Punjab, Orissa, MP, et al.
In the eyes of two lovers, their love knows no barriers and in the event of them deciding to tie the knot, the caste should not enter as a stumbling block. A youth belonging to a higher caste falling in love with a girl of lower caste or vice-versa and they deciding to enter into marital relationship is not a sin and it is after all a private matter between them. On coming to know about such an affair, the girl eloping with the boy and lead a happy contented life somewhere that is their personal matter. Shadowing them, tracing them and gunning them down by their angry parents or siblings is a heinous crime, to put it mildly. Like in other North Indian States, in Madhya Pradesh too these ‘crimes’ are prevalent. The incumbent government does practically nothing to put an end to this evil practice.
One of these days, I happened to watch in a News Channel, the Madhya Pradesh government reportedly deciding to ban the consumption of eggs by the masses in deference to the wishes of certain ultra-conservative elements. While the govt of India through advertisements propagating the need of consuming eggs especially by children as it is like milk, a nutritious food encouraging each to have an egg a day, here a State govt reportedly deciding to ban the eggs is somewhat painful and shocking. Let the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh go through the teachings of Swami Vivekananda and on leafing through he could very well stumble upon Vivekananda exhorting Indians to eat meat and eggs and gain more strength and courage like Westerners to go hand in hand with spirituality and materialistic pursuits.
Similarly about 3-4 years back, an esteemed professor of Ujjain University Y.K.Sabbarwal was allegedly done to death by a section of students owing allegiance to the Sangh Parivar when he tried to avert a clash among students by interfering. The scene was vividly covered by the TV channels, the students threatening the Professor with dire consequences and manhandling him, in the melee that ensued, he was caught in the stampede and his good intentions coming to a nought with him collapsing down. Those involved in the incident escaped scot-free even after as per his son’s request to shift the case to Mumbai apprehending fair justice not coming out in his home State of Madhya Pradesh, as the witnesses to the incident were under threat of the Sangh Parivar elements but even in the Mumbai court too he didn’t get justice with the witnesses backtracking fearing threats to their life which were very much in the air. In the ancient times, in the Ramayana and Mahabharatha epics, Rama and Krishna whom the BJP elements worship as Gods paid obeisance to their Gurus (teachers) as those epic characters held their Gurus in high esteem, devotion and obedience. The Sangh Parivar elements, to be more specific, ABVP (Akhila Bharathiya Vidyarthi Parishad), the student wing of BJP – who are the worshippers of their Gods Rama and Krishna were allegedly culpable for the shocking death of their Professor. They should feel ashamed of themselves for the unforgivable sin allegedly committed by them.
On the strength of a few popular measures Shivraj Singh Chauhan left other important matters being relegated to the background.
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