New Delhi: Delhi Police on Tuesday barricaded the busy Tughlaq Road of the capital zone and shut down Racecourse Road metro station in an attempt to prevent supporters of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) Ajit Singh from reaching a government bungalow that the former federal minister is occupying illegally.
Traffic was diverted to other roads leading to massive jams as the police detained Singh’s supporters who tried to march towards the 12 Tughlaq Road bungalow to attend a meeting called by Singh in support of his demand to convert the bungalow into a memorial of his late father and former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.
Singh is resisting eviction from the bungalow where he has been living ever since it was allocated to his father in 1986. He was served eviction notice by the government after he failed to retain his traditional Baghpat Lok Sabha seat in the summer general elections.
The New Delhi Municipal Council had disconnected water and electricity supplies to the bungalow on September 13, following which he started his demand to convert the building into a memorial.
Police had declared Singh’s intended mahapanchayat (grand meeting) as illegal. They were prevented from entering Delhi at the Uttar Pradesh border and arrested those who still managed to reach the troubled spot.
The government has rejected Singh’s demand to convert the bungalow into a memorial citing a decision taken in the year 2000 in this regard and clarified that a memorial for Charan Singh, named Kisan Ghat, was already there near the famous Raj Ghat in central Delhi.
Singh, 76, is facing criticism for trying to live in the bungalow illegally by using his father’s name as he never raised the demand to convert the bungalow into a memorial while he served as a minister in several governments in the past.
Political insiders say Singh is using the bungalow row to stage a comeback into the Uttar Pradesh politics, with an eye on 2017 assembly elections in the state.
Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal was completely wiped out from its stronghold western Uttar Pradesh by his erstwhile ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Singh is now using his father’s name knowing well that the farmers, especially the Jat community, are emotionally attached to Charan Singh even 27 years after his death.
The Jats of western Uttar Pradesh had opted to support BJP in the last general elections, leading to a complete wipe out of Singh and his party.
Singh has received support for his demand from Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Locked in a tough battle to retain power for the third consecutive term, Hooda needs support of Haryana’s Jats in the October 15 assembly elections. Hooda is making attempts to get Ajit Singh campaign in the state for the Congress party, hoping using Charan Singh’s name would get him the Jat votes.
Singh had last week led a violent protest on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border as his followers clashed with the police, which foiled their attempt to cut off water supply to Delhi through a canal.
