The Rants of a Hypocrite – Modi’s Rally in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh

The Rants of a Hypocrite – Modi’s Rally in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh

Mukul Sinha February 16, 2014

The venue where Modi held his rally in Himachal Pradesh (HP) on 16th February, 2014, fell within the Lok Sabha constituency of MP Anurag Thakur, son of the former Chief Minster of BJP, Prem Kumar Dhumal. Not long back, in December, 2012, Congress(I) had swept out BJP from power in the 68 seat HP assembly. Congress won 36 whereas BJP won 26. 6 seats were taken by Independents. In the previous election held in 2007, BJP had won 41 seats whereas Congress had won 23 seats. The leader of BJP, Prem Kumar Dhumal, had become the Chief Minister of HP in 2007.

BJP has in fact a long history of ruling HP. BJP first came to power in 1990 by winning 46 seats whereas Congress had won just 9 seats. Janata Dal had won 11 seats. In the re-election held in 1993, BJP was routed and Congress won 52 seats with BJP getting only 8 seats. The 1998 elections threw up a hung assembly with both BJP and Congress winning 31 seats each while Himachal Vikas Manch (HVM) won 5 seats.

HVM was led by the notorious Sukhram, the former Telecom Minister, who was arrested in 1996 for disproportionate asset case. Sukhram was later convicted and jailed for 5 years in 2011. To grab power in HP, BJP took the support of Sukhram and his party Himachal Vikas Manch completely overlooking his tainted corrupt back ground. Narendra Modi was the incharge of BJP in Himachal Pradesh at that time and laid the entire strategy. As reported in Sunday Guardian:

Modi was keen to form the government and Dhumal managed to win over four Sukh Ram-led Himachal Vikas Congress MLAs apart from few independents and even a Congress dissident Gulab Singh Thakur. As soon as Dhumal managed the numbers, Modi shifted all these MLAs to a house in Panchkula.

Did anybody hear Modi talking about his own strategy which involved taking support of corrupt Sukhram? The same Modi kept ranting about the need to root out corruption from HP!

The story does not end here. The ruling Congress was ousted in December, 2007, and BJP won 41 seats as against Congress’s 23 seats. The last stint of five years from 2007 to 2012 was once again in the hands of BJP. The election in December, 2012, brought back Congress’s rule in HP. A quick arithmetic will show that since 1990 to 2014, i.e. in the period of 24 years, BJP has ruled HP for 13 years whereas Congress has ruled for 11 years. While ranting for over an hour in Hamirpur, did Modi utter a word against the most corrupt Government of Dhumal in HP for over 13 years or why BJP’s governance of 13 years, the last stint ending in 2012, failed the state?

The scams of the Dhumal Government during the period of 2007 to 2012 are innumerable. A few of them are as under:

As reported by Press Trust of India in FirstPost, BJP MP Anurag Thakur and his brother Arun Singh, both sons of former BJP Chief Minister PK Dhumal were booked by Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau for alleged cheating and conspiracy in a land case.

The ACB also slapped a case on Anurag Thakur, who also heads Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association, under different sections of the IPC and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act for alleged cheating, conspiracy, encroachment on government land and demolition of residential houses of education department for construction of cricket stadium.

Another FIR against Anurag Thakur is under investigation pertaining to illegal felling of forest trees to build a five-star hotel —- The Pavilion —- as part of the cricket stadium project.

Would Mr Modi tell the people of India that while he was hurling allegations against Congress as he always does, the very constituency in which he was holding the rally was represented by Anurag Thakur against whom multiple criminal cases are pending? Does his hypocrisy have no limits at all? From Yeddyurappa to Sukhram are BJP’s allies, yet Modi talks of fighting corruption.