Bihar cabinet’s decision to accord late Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh the status of a “freedom fighter” and hold a state function every year on 17 January in honour of his contributions to India’s freedom struggle has snowballed into a major controversy with dissenting voices coming from various quarters. Late Singh, more popular as “Vaidya” (practitioner of Ayurvedic medicines), happens to be none other than the father of chief minister Nitish Kumar.
A former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Amitabh Kumar Das has questioned the state government’s move and has requested the Governor to find out the “contributions” of the CM’s father in the country’s freedom struggle. He alleged a big “scam” in the whole movement of the state government saying it appears that CM’s late father was being granted the status of “freedom fighter” by force.
“I have been a student of history and have extensively searched the role of Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh in the country’s freedom movement in the available history books but to no avail. I also searched about him on Google but have failed to get any information in this regard,” Das, a 1994-batch IPS officer, said in a letter to Bihar Governor Fagu Chauhan.
He alleged the state government was forcibly trying to declare late Singh as a “freedom fighter” since he happens to be the father of the chief minister. He urged the Governor to seek documentary evidence from the state government about late Singh’s contributions to the freedom struggle.
What has raised further questions over the move, informed sources said, is that the way the chief minister waited for more than 16 years to accord his father the status of a “freedom fighter” although he took oath in November 2005 itself. What’s more, know about the CM’s father is that he was a “Vaidya” and the chief minister himself has gone on records revealing how he would once make “Pudiyas” (paper packets) at his father’s clinics. The RJD too has raised objections.
The controversy broke out after the state cabinet headed by the chief minister decided last week to hold state functions on 17 January in honour of several freedom fighters who included CM’s late father, Nathun Prasad Yadav, Shilbhadra Yaji, Mogal Singh, and Sumar Prasad Singh. A total of six proposals were approved by the state cabinet held on Wednesday.