MADHYA PRADESH BJP FACES MINI REVOLT BY FOUR CABINET MINISTERS DIFFERENCES ON ACTIONS TOWARDS TRIBALS AND OTHERS CREATING PROBLEMS

In the midst of all out massive organisational efforts, Madhya Pradesh BJP faced a sort of mini revolt by four Ministers. These four ministers conveyed their annoyance by staying away from an organisational meeting headed by BJP national organisational general secretary B. L. Santosh who was on a three day visit to MP.

The meeting was held at the state BJP headquarters and attended by 28 cabinet members including chief minister Chouhan. But the four-tribal ministers stood out in their absence – Bisahulal Singh (food and civil supplies), Vijay Shah (forests), Meena Singh (tribal welfare) and Prem Singh Patel (animal husbandry).

At a time when all of BJP – from the Centre to the state – is trying to woo tribals, the absence of four tribal ministers from a high-level organisational meeting is no coincidence.

State BJP chief V. D. Sharma evaded questions on the ministers’ absence, but revenue minister Govind Singh Rajput said “some of them are busy with functions, some are unwell”. However, it is widely known that Bisahulal Singh was reprimanded by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for his comment on upper caste women.

The CM said he had called Bisahulal to his office and cautioned him that every word should be weighed before spoken. “A wrong message should not reach the people” he said.

“Respect of mothers, sisters and daughters and their welfare is top priority for BJP, the BJP government and me. Mothers, sisters and daughters are like goddesses to us and we are implementing a number of schemes for then,” the chief minister said. He also said that he had warned Bisaulal for making a controversial statement about ‘upper caste women’ last week. “I had just called Bisahulal Singh ji. He has publicly apologised for his statement. Whatever the sentiment the message should not go wrong. Every word should be spoken carefully. I have warned that such statements should not be given under any circumstances”.

CM Chouhan further said the expression of such feelings which send a wrong message to the people will not be forgiven whoever the person may be. Madhya Pradesh BJP president V. D. Sharma also apologised for the tribal leader’s statement and called it unfortunate. “It is unfortunate. This should not have happened. If his (Bisahulal’s) statement hurts sentiments of any section of the society as state party president I apologise on behalf of the party” he told the media.

Bishaulal Singh apologised for the second time two days after meeting with the chief minister. “All my life, I have respected mothers and sisters. If they have been hurt because of a statement of mine, I apologise for it. Forgive me” the minister said in a video message with folded hands. A few days ago, while addressing a public meeting in his constituency Anuppur, Bisahulal had remarked that women from Rajput families are kept within the house hold. They should be ‘pulled out’ and made to work only then will women be empowered he said. The comment triggered widespread protests by Kshatriya communities across the state and Bisahulal was even shown black flags by Karni Sena members inside the BJP headquarters.

Congress MLA Jaivardhan Singh, himself a Thakur had also condemned the statement of Bisahual incidentally a one-time loyalist of the former’s father and Congress MP Digvijaya Singh.

It may be mentioned that Bisahulal was originally elected as a Congress candidate. He later defected and joined the BJP and as a reward got a ministerial berth. Obviously he must have felt humiliation after Chief Minister publicly rebuked him. But surprisingly he got the support from three other tribal Ministers who belonged to the BJP. It is premature to say whether the controversy had been finally resolved or may take further dissension among tribals.