Was elevated to practice religion devoid of bigotry, uncovered it really hard to adjust in BJP,’ claims Birender Singh
New Delhi: After a 10 years with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), previous Union minister Birender Singh bid it farewell before this week and joined the Congress. In accordance to him, in the BJP, leaders who are not from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are usually regarded as outsiders, problems in the BJP are viewed by a caste prism, and folks like him, who have been elevated to feel that a single can notice one’s religion without currently being a “dharmandh” (bigot), discover it really hard regulate. In an distinctive job interview with ThePrint, Singh also criticised, what he explained as the “glycerin-induced tears”, that the BJP has sheds for farmers and the inadequate.Seated within the official residence of his MP son Brijendra Singh, the senior Haryana chief talked about the good reasons for his disenchantment with the occasion, the distinction in the way politics is practiced in the Congress and the BJP, his endeavours to resolve issues like farmers’ agitation and wrestlers’ protests, and the approaching Lok Sabha elections.
For Singh, who was with the Congress for about 37 years (considering the fact that his initial election in 1977) right before he joined the BJP in 2014, returning to the Congress is not just ghar wapsi (homecoming) for him but also “vichar dhara wapsi” (return to ideology).


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Prior to Birender Singh, his father Neki Ram Sheokand was also a senior Congress chief who was a minister in joint Punjab right before 1966 and then all over again beneath Bansi Lal in 1968.
Birender Singh explained that he has been introduced up in a milieu the place, because of to the influence of the Arya Samaj, a person could observe one’s religion devoid of staying a darmandh. However, he explained that the BJP’s ideology did not align with this.Additionally, he extra, “Leaders from distinctive political parties who be a part of the BJP are never ever adopted as their possess by individuals from the RSS cadre. All individuals who really don’t have an RSS qualifications are normally regarded outsiders in the BJP.”However, he hastened to increase that bringing expertise from outside the house has been a valuable experiment by the BJP considering the fact that 2014 and this has served the social gathering to come to ability and also keep it for 10 decades now. “It would have taken the BJP a long time to develop its own leaders capable of winning elections. As a substitute, they bring in leaders from other get-togethers who have the potential to acquire and field them as candidates,” he mentioned.
Singh claimed that a further issue he did not like in the BJP was the way the social gathering thought in offering “freebies”.
“The BJP has acquired a mastery in distributing freebies. It’s generating persons dependent and curbing their normal wrestle for amelioration of their situations. Supplying people today a absolutely free ration is like, ‘we will not enable them continue being hungry but at the same time we will not allow them to improve in life’. I really don’t understand… when Modi promises that 13.5 crore have been lifted out of poverty, how arrive the selection of people getting totally free ration has not arrive down?” he claimed.Birender Singh reported that he has watched how ministers under Prime Minister Narendra Modi function and how they functioned underneath former PMs like Manmohan Singh and Rajiv Gandhi and discovered lots of variations.Outlining 1 significant variance involving the BJP and the Congress, he claimed that even though in the Congress, folks could be part of and have a unique look at from the party’s leadership, this was not achievable in the BJP, which is a cadre-based occasion, or, as he set it, “a regimented party”.“I dealt with crucial portfolios, like drinking h2o and sanitation, at a time when Modi launched Swachhata Abhiyan, rural advancement, and panchayati raj. I had quite a few ideas which I considered could benefit men and women, but I faced road blocks when it arrived to employing these ideas. And this impacted governance, also. Less than the Modi governing administration, a minister is not supposed to put into action one’s personal thoughts or formulate one’s possess procedures. A minister has to be productive in implementation, but a single does not need to have to feel up tips because the ideology comes from previously mentioned. This is because the BJP is a cadre-primarily based social gathering backed by the RSS and has specific ideologies which are translated into guidelines,” said Singh.
When ThePrint requested him to elaborate on his observation that caste influences how the BJP appears at problems, Singh reported that when women wrestlers have been sitting down on dharna, demanding justice for the alleged sexual harassment they suffered at the fingers of BJP MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, he spoke several moments with BJP President J.P. Nadda, a person he calls a pal. He said he also sought time from Anurag Thakur, Union sports activities minister, but did not get an appointment.“A wrestler is a wrestler. A lady is a woman. The caste must have absolutely nothing to do with it,” reported the Congress chief, referring to how the BJP is seemingly disregarding Jats in Haryana and Rajasthan, pitted other castes versus them to polarise voters. By the way, all protesting wrestlers have been Jats.
Also go through: ‘My father & I viewed as outsiders in BJP’ — Hisar MP Brijendra Singh, who stop social gathering to be a part of Congress
‘400-plus a distant dream’
While rejoining the Congress at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters, Birender Singh had appealed to the folks to sign up for fingers to “save the democracy and the Constitution”. Talking to ThePrint about this, he stated that particular actions of the Narendra Modi federal government, like initiatives to destabilise Opposition-ruled state governments, the electoral bonds scheme, and appointing election commissioners by excluding the main justice of India from the panel reveal that democracy and the Constitution could be in peril in foreseeable future.
Previous Union minister Birender Singh at the formal residence of his MP son Brijendra Singh | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht, ThePrint
Singh also likened the BJP’s empathy for farmers and the lousy to be nothing at all extra than “glycerin-induced tears”. Speaking about his efforts during the farmers’ agitation of 2021-22, Singh recounted how, at the ask for of farmer leaders, he spoke to then agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar. He proposed fixing a benchmark for the buy value for each and every crop if the authorities couldn’t assure a minimum amount support rate (MSP). Nevertheless, his proposal was turned down, with the governing administration expressing a desire for a no cost-market place solution.Conversing about the Congress, Singh spoke about Rahul Gandhi’s pan-India recognition. In accordance to him, the BJP focused Rahul only since the party “knows that the Congress bash led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family members can prove to be its major challenge”.“After Rajiv Gandhi’s death, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj when met me at a social collecting and questioned no matter if Sonia Gandhi will be part of politics. When I stated not quickly but she absolutely would ultimately, Swaraj answered that if this was the case, the Congress would arrive to power for one more expression,” he stated.Trashing the BJP’s claims of profitable 400-moreover seats for the Nationwide Democratic Alliance (NDA), Singh said that as someone who has more than 50 yrs of working experience in politics, he can say with conviction that “rajneeti karwat le rahi hai” (politics is turning). “If it turns a little bit more rapidly, persons will have shocking effects to see, but even if it turns slower, the BJP’s targets will show a distant desire,” he said.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also go through: ‘No democracy within BJP’ — Hisar MP Brijendra, father Birender Singh go Congress way
