Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took a jibe at Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s decision to accord Minister of State (MoS) status to five religious leaders.
While attaching a news reports of Navbharat Times in a tweet, Rahul Gandhi wrote a parody of popular Hindi song, saying “Baba kehte the bada kaam karunga, Narmada ghotala nakaam karunga, magar yeh toh, mama hi jaane, ab inki manzil hai kahan!. Madhya Pradesh qayamat se qayamat tak”.
बाबा कहते थे बड़ा काम करूँगा
नर्मदा घोटाला नाकाम करूँगा
मगर यह तो, मामा ही जाने
अब इनकी मंज़िल है कहाँ!मध्य प्रदेश, क़यामत से क़यामत तकhttps://t.co/6GBkGkU8N8
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 5, 2018
Rahul Gandhi’s mocking tweet comes a day after two religious leaders cancelled their proposed campaign against an alleged scam in the Madhya Pradesh government’s Narmada conservation programme. They did so after being accorded the MoS status.
Meanwhile, after Opposition and Left parties demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should clarify on the “unconstitutional” decision by the Madhya Pradesh government, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan sought to downplay the controversy, saying his government wanted to rope in people from all walks of life for welfare and development.
The BJP government on Tuesday accorded the MoS status Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj, Computer Baba, Bhayyu Maharaj and Pandit Yogendra Mahant. On March 31, the five religious leaders were appointed to a committee set up for the Narmada river conservation.
Computer Baba had earlier announced that he would take out ‘Narmada Ghotala Rath Yatra’, along with Yogendra Mahant, in every district of MP from 1 April to 15 May, to expose an alleged scam in planting of saplings on the banks of the Narmada and to demand action against illegal sand mining.
The publicity material of the campaign was also circulated widely on social media.
However, Computer Baba on Wednesday said they have cancelled the campaign, because the state government has fulfilled their demand to form a committee of saints and seers for protection of the Narmada river.
“Now why would we take out the yatra?” he said.
On accepting government facilities meant for an MoS despite being a saint, he said, “If we do not get the post and other government facilities, how can we work for the protection of the Narmada?. As a member of the committee, we have to talk to the district collectors and look after other necessary arrangements for the river’s conservation. A government status is required for these works.”
Yogendra Mahant, who was the convener of the proposed campaign, also said that they cancelled the ‘yatra’ as the state government fulfilled their demand to set up a panel for the river conservation.
On March 31, these five religious leaders were appointed members of the ‘Janjagrukta Abhiyan Samiti’ (Public Awareness Campaign Committee) set up for the conservation of the Narmada.
On Tuesday, the opposition Congress had dubbed the decision to appoint them as MoS as the BJP’s attempt to exploit the respect these religious leaders enjoy in society.
The BJP hit back saying the opposition party disliked anything related to saints.
Asked by reporters as to why his government accorded the MoS status to religious leaders, Chief Minister Chouhan on Wednesday said, “We want to associate people from all walks of life in the work towards development and welfare of the people. So we have made efforts to bring together all sections of the society.”
He was talking to reporters after a function at Jatara town in Tikamgarh district. The CPI had slammed the state government for mixing religion with governance.
“Firstly, mixing religion and governance and mixing religion and politics is unconstitutional. It is not in accordance with our Constitution. Madhya Pradesh government has been doing this in order to polarise not only people but also religion. The state government is doing it for electoral gains. The prime minister should reply how BJP-ruled states are doing such things,” said CPI leader D Raja.