SURAJKUND: Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal created a stir last ‘week when he exhorted participants in the Congress training camp here to Lead a clean public life.
There have been several allegations of corruption against Bhajan Lal, who shot to fame in 1980 by switching over to the Congress with the entire Janata legislature party.
“There were titters…Someone jokingly said, “Yahi hai right choice, baby,’ (from the Pepsi advertisement) because Lal knows what corruption is all about,” a participant from Madhya Pradesh said. Though no one protested against the organizers’ wisdom infilling Bhajan Lal to lecture on corruption, many though a leader with a clean image, like Kerala chief minister A.K. Antony or Union finance minister Manmohan Singh, should have been chosen for the task. A party official later explained that Bhajan Lal was not scheduled to address the gathering, hence organizers were not aware of the topic he would speak on. Vijay Shikhamani, former MLA. from Tirupati, offered a different perspective. He said corrupt leaders could be found in all parties, not only in the Congress. “We know there are rats, but can we put the house on fire?” he asked.
Some participants said the continuance of leaders like B, Shankaranand and Kalpanth Rai in the party put them on the defensive when they tried to counter Opposition attacks. “Even their removal from the Cabinet was unduly delayed and created the impression that the Prime Minister was too serious about weeding out such elements from the government,” said a party functionary from Tamil Nadu.
The names of Shankaranand and Rai figured in recent scandals.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Pawar had a tough time with some participants from Uttar Pradesh mainly Muslims, who accused this government of failing to provide security during the riots in Bombay in January 1993. Although Pawar was for scheduled to speak today, he was called by the UP leaders for a separate meeting.
“It is not only the central government’s failure to protect the Babri Masjid that has alienated MusJims from the Congress. The sense of insecurity that has crept into the community’s mind after the riots in different Paris of the country, particularly in the Congress ruled states, has created a cleavage which we find difficult to remove,” said participant from UP.
The weeklong camp, opened by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao on July 25, is expected to train about 250 party men in communication so that they can propagate the government’s achievements and explain the party’s stand on important issues in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 4, 1995
