Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Several ministers of the 17-month-old government in the state are behaving like unbridled horses.
The BJP leaders always say the organisation is above everything. But the ruling party looks the other way when it comes to acting against its ministers.
The government has so far tried to paper over the faults of the ministers during its tenure.
The government as well as the organisation has failed to act against any minister. The high court has ordered an FIR against minister Vijay Shah for his obscene comments.
His statement has invited criticism from people across the country. But none of the leaders of the organisation could muster enough courage to seek Shah’s resignation.
The minister may quit by the time the report is published. But the organisation and government do not have any role in it.
The credit for taking action against Shah goes to the high court judge who himself took cognisance of Shah’s statement and ordered an FIR against him.
But Shah is not the only minister against whom the BJP has failed to act. The government swept the ministers’ faults under the rug.
The probe agencies raided the residential and official premises of former constable of the transport department Saurabh Sharma. The government should have asked the then Transport Minister and present Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Govind Singh Rajput, to resign from the cabinet.
Several cases related to Rajput cropped up during the tenure of this government. The income tax department took cognisance of it. He had to return the land.
Everyone spoke about it. But the BJP buttoned up its mouth over corruption.
The party remained tight-lipped over minister Narendra Sivaji Patel’s conduct for not getting a table for eating in a restaurant in Gwalior. He called a team of officials of the food department at 11pm to the restaurant and asked them to raid the hotel. It was a weekly holiday, though.
The minister was at fault in the incident. But he remained unscathed. When another minister, Nagar Singh Chouhan, was stripped of some departments, he threatened to resign from the cabinet.
Then the party was carrying out damage-control exercises. The government sent a collector to mollify the minister, but the BJP failed to act against the minister for breaching discipline.
The influence of central leadership of the party is growing over the state unit and the government.
The government and party’s state unit wait for instructions from Delhi.
It is, however, well-known that the central leadership always supports the state organisation for any action it takes.
If the leaders of the state unit put up a minister’s mistakes before the central leadership, there will be action against the person concerned. Ergo, the state unit cannot stay away from taking action on the pretext of an order from the central leadership.
The BJP has always been strong in MP. The leaders, like Anoop Mishra, Ajay Vishnoi and Jugal Kishore Bagri, were sacked from the ministry.
During his tenure as chief minister, Babulal Gaur sacked Sunil Nayak from the cabinet.
The same foul-mouthed Vijay Shah had to resign from the ministry in 2013.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, party president VD Sharma and the organisational general secretary Hitanand Sharma have to act against the ministers for their faults. By doing so, they will set an example for the coming generation.
