RSS backs sacked Kalyan minister in fight for "justice"

NEW DELHI, DEC 10: For the past three days our cadres have been singing the song penned by you,'' Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief...

NEW DELHI, DEC 10: For the past three days our cadres have been singing the song penned by you,” Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Prof Rajendra Singh told former Uttar Pradesh Education Minister Ravindra Shukla at Kanpur on December 6.

Shukla, a former RSS pracharak, had been sacked by Chief Minister Kalyan Singh only a day earlier. His fault: he issued a Government Order making the recitation of Vande Mataram compulsory in all primary schools in the state. And it was no coincidence that the very next day, the RSS chief decided to observe 1999 as the year of Vande Mataram.

The message was clear. The RSS would not leave its former pracharak in the lurch. The treatment meted out to him is likely to figure prominently at the RSS conclave in Nagpur tomorrow. As a precursor, Radhey Shyam Pandey, the RSS pracharak deputed to the committee formulating Kalp Yojna (of which Vande Mataram is a part), today called on top RSS leaders, including K.S. Sudarshan, Govindacharya and Narendra Modi inNagpur.

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Pandey is believed to have shown the RSS top brass confidential files which “bail out” Shukla. In a note sent by the Director, Basic Education, seeking to issue a Government Order (GO) for implementation of Kalp Yojna, Kalyan Singh had noted on June 6, “anumodit” (recommended). The three annexures to the document included a brief note of the scheme (A), a technical note (B) and a detailed note of the scheme (C). Shukla signed the file on July 21 and the GO was issued on July 25.

Pandey is known to have later informed senior BJP leaders: “They (the RSS leaders) are completely satisfied about Ravindra Shukla’s role in the controversy. They are convinced that he has been made a scapegoat by Kalyan Singh.”

Armed with these documents, Shukla himself called on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Union Home Minister L.K. Advani. He also met BJP chief Kushabhau Thakre yesterday.

Tracked down, Shukla refused to divulge details of his meetings. “I have told the party bosses whatever I had tosay,” he said. He added he was demanding neither his reinstatement in the UP Cabinet nor action against the Chief Minister. “I only want to clear my name,” he said.

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The Vande Mataram issue has once again exposed intra-BJP bickerings in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, Vajpayee had himself indicted Kalyan Singh for not sending a memorandum on time seeking flood relief from Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

Last month, Vajpayee had snubbed the Chief Minister by holding a durbar at the residence of Singh’s rival, Urban Affairs Minister Lalji Tandon.

Senior BJP leaders accuse Kalyan Singh of relying heavily on bureaucrats and ignoring veterans like Shukla. “He did not believe Shukla when the latter told him that a GO on Kalp Yojna has already been issued. He believed bureaucrats who told him the opposite,” a UP BJP leader said.

Shukla had recommended action against 13 IAS officers found guilty of financial irregularities in various World Bank-run schemes. He had also suspended over two dozen senior officials inhis department on similar charges. “The IAS lobby got the better of Shukla, though not a single IAS officer has been punished yet,” the BJP leader said.