Why Chauhan called on murder accused? | N.D.Sharma

Published on 09-01-2008 In National

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Why Chauhan called on murder accused?

Whatever his detractors may be saying about the level of his IQ, Shivraj Singh Chauhan is not so naïve as not to realise the implications of meeting one of the main accused in the Prof.Sabharwal murder case. His meeting was not an off-hand affair. It was, by all accounts, a calculated move apparently aimed at placating the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for seeking its support in the Assembly elections, which the chief minister is said to be contemplating ahead of the schedule.

Vimal Tamar, one of the top ABVP office-bearers on trial for the murder of Prof. Sabharwal, was first shifted from the Ujjain jail to the State-run M.Y. Hospital in Indore and the chief minister went there to meet him. Chauhan was with Tamar for about twenty minutes. Tamar was taken back to the Ujjain jail a few days after the meeting.

Prof. H.S.Sabharwal, of the Madhav College in Ujjain, was asked to conduct the students' union elections in August 2006. Following some trouble, he had cancelled the elections. This infuriated the ABVP activists who alleged that the Professor was acting at the behest of the NSUI, the student wing of the Congress. He was beaten up and had died on the way to the hospital. (Prof. Sabharwal was, ironically, one of the founder members of Vidyarthi Parishad, which was later, renamed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad).

Chauhan, who has himself held several important positions in the ABVP for a number of years, went public with the statement that Prof. Sabharwal had died in an accident and that the ABVP had nothing to do with his death. The visuals of the ABVP activists' role in the crime repeatedly shown on the TV channels and the countrywide outrage over the murder of the professor forced Chauhan to ask the police to 'investigate'. Eventually, six ABVP activists were booked for the murder of the professor. They included State ABVP president Shashi Ranjan Akela also. Though only a Divisional Organising Secretary, Vimal Tomar was said to be more aggressive and assertive.

The ABVP was furious at the arrest of its leaders in the Ujjain professor murder case and it squarely blamed Chauhan for this. It had virtually waged a war against the chief minister. Rallies were held all over the State and Chauhan's effigies were burnt. ABVP national general secretary K.N.Raghunandan led the rally in Bhopal.

Even though Chauhan had made suitable 'adjustments' in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which was asked to handle the case and several key prosecution witnesses later turned hostile in the Ujjain sessions court, the ABVP has not displayed any signs of reconciliation.

Chauhan's meeting with Vimal Tamar, even at the risk of annoying the court, is seen in this light, because the ABVP/Bajrang Dal riff-raff can be of immense help in the elections. Chauhan is said to be toying with the idea of early elections, say in April or May, instead of waiting till November when the term of the present Assembly expires.

It is not that the people of the State are particularly pleased with the performance of the Chauhan government. On the contrary, there is a widespread resentment against the government. Drinking water problem is endemic all over the State; it is more acute in the Bundelkhand region.

The government is purchasing electricity from other surplus States; still, it is not in a position to meet the demand. The supply position is pathetically awful in the rural areas where the farmers need it for irrigation. The roads except the centrally financed highways are in bad shape. The law and order is steadily deteriorating.

There is a drought-like situation in the Chambal region, as the rainfall there was much below the average. The Rabi sowing this year is expected to remain below 40 per cent of the target. Migrations have already started from the area. The situation is no better in the Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions.

All of a sudden, Chauhan has become aware of these problems. He is seen checking the roads for the use of substandard material and publicly asking the chief engineer for an explanation. His chief secretary, Rakesh Sahni, is directing the Collectors through video-conferencing to ensure drinking water supply in their areas. None of these issues, or those directly affecting the masses in the State, had figured in the list of 'achievements' that Chauhan's government had widely publicised a month ago, on the completion of two years of his government. (That, again, was an interesting thing. The so-called achievements referred to the two-year period only. Chauhan probably does not recognise that the governments of Uma Bharati and Babulal Gaur were also BJP governments.)

The situation, Chauhan's coterie feels, is likely to be much worse ten months hence. The power supply position is always bad in October-November. If the normal monsoon fails, as it so often does, that will only add to the ruling party's woes. After the budgetary allocations in March, the government can afford to make bulk purchase of electricity, ensure water supply through tankers and go for other things urgently needed, such as repair of the roads, for a few months only, and not for the year round.

Another thing that is weighing heavily with Chauhan's strategists is the utter disorder in the Congress party, the main challenger to the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. The party, or whatever of it exists in the State, has been a conglomeration of disparate elements after its ouster from power four years ago. It sometimes goes to the height of absurdity as it did when the party served a show cause notice on a party leader for inviting former chief minister Digvijay Singh to his private function "without permission". (The other parties, such as the Samajwadi party, the BSP, the CPI, the CPI (M) and the JD, have only their pockets of influence).

The BJP victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have somewhat deadened the State BJP's trauma caused by the by-election defeats. These days Chauhan is laying foundation stones of schemes by the wholesale. He laid foundation stones of 135 schemes in one day (so claims an official handout)-– in Betul district, which has become his main concern. Vijay Kumar Khandelwal, four-time BJP member of Lok Sabha from Betul constituency, died in November. Chauhan, rather the entire BJP, is concentrating on Betul. If the by-election is held there in the next couple of months and the BJP suffers yet another defeat, that will perhaps dampen Chauhan's enthusiasm for an early Assembly election.

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