Congress in Himachal Pradesh has become poorer, rather pauper after the announcement of retirement from electoral politics by one of the tallest leaders, Virbhadra Singh. No party can survive without a popular leader and Congress in Himachal today has no leader as tall as the six-time chief minister, Virbhadra Singh.
He is called "Raja Shaheb" not because he happens to be scion of the erstwhile Rampur Bushahr princely state, but because he ruled the hearts of Himachalis. After Dr. Y. S. Parmar, the architect of present Himachal, Virbhadra Singh is the other tallest state leader. He is really the king of the masses. As of now, no other state leader can take his place. The present lot of leadership doesn't even distantly come near to his tall stature. They can not even win seats for party in their own district.
Whatever might be the reasons for forcing him to announce retirement from electoral politics, age is, certainly, one of the reasons. He hasn't been in good health and very active in electoral politics despite his love for meeting people and sharing their sufferings. He a very sagacious politician and a kind -hearted person and would, often. melt down on seeing the plight of people. He would leave no stone unturned to lessen the miseries of the people. At the same time he is very tough with his adversaries.
I have, personally, known him from the days when I launched a New & Feature Agency (MNFA) from Shimla in early eighties. When I first met him in his office (secretariat), he was kind enough to agree to inaugurate my agency in small office near High Court where he had to walk down . It was to my big surprise as his other ministerial colleagues were too reluctant and didn't take me seriously. I was then just an ex-PR employee and had no political backing. Despite this he readily agreed simply because I happened to be a local men.
That's what "Raja Saheb" is. It was his obsession to uplift all Himachalis and would do everything he could. Later, when I broached upon the idea of bringing a daily Hindi newspaper from Himachal, he not only encouraged me but helped me in all ways and even went to meet ND Tiwari, the then union Finance Minister, for getting my project cleared from the IDBI, then the the consortium bank for all state financial institutions. its a different matter that banks in India clear your project after getting a cut. I realized it much letter.
It was these attributes that brought Virbhadra Singh close to the hearts of the people. He would make it a routine to meet people coming from all over the state daily at his official residence "Oakover" to redress their grievances. No other chief minister could do this. Apart from "Oakover", people used to flock his private residence "Holy Lodge". He would always enjoy meeting people. This is in sharp contrast to other leaders who would try to avoid meeting people at their residence.
Winning is opponents by maneuvering is his greatest political assets. As chief minister, he had nursed good relations with the opposition leaders except PK Dhumal with whom he took cudgels to its logical end. Thakur Jagdev Chand, leader of opposition for long time in Himachal remained close to him as Virbhadra Singh would always keep him in good humor. Later, he also won the confidence of Shanta Kumar, once bitterest critics of Virbhadra when PK Dhumal was the chief Minister. He even won over many times the maverick leader, Vijay Singh Mankotia, once the bitterest critics. Mankotia played a sensation when he brought out a woman in front of media in Shimla to allege that Virbhadra Singh had married her showing photographs. Later these were found mosphed.
Hitting his critics hard till end is Virbhadra's biggest weakness and often caused him more harm than bringing political gains. He would go to any length to nail his opponents and , would play every trick to browbeat them, He took cudgels with PK Dhumal and his son and unnecessarily dug into the alleged violation of land allotted to HP cricket association for making Asia best cricket stadium at Dharamsala. There wasn't any violation and even if there were violations, it was in the interest of the people. Dhumal family didn't benefit from this allotment. Nailing Dhumal and son in this case wasn't liked even by state Congress leaders. There were many benami land transactions in the state during his tenure though he was the architect of inserting a provision for barring outsiders from buying land in Himachal.
He is obstinate by very nature and never admits his faults and weaknesses despite realizing them. Perhaps, it was due to his royal blood. After all." King is always right" is his inheritance. He has the habit of taking credit for good things and blaming others for bad results. Even while announcing the retirement, he blamed some party leaders for working indirectly to defeat candidates supported by the Congress. And all we know that he was hitting at his adversaries in the party.
It is said that hit a honest man by tarnishing his image is the best strategy to weaken him. As allegation after allegation started erupting up, Virbhadra Singh image as honest politician suffered a blow. And the notorious CD episode did the biggest blow to is image. Later, as the charges of taking cash as donation while he was Union Steel Minister, and manipulating Income Tax returns did more damage to his clean image. He had to fight for long in court. The case is still not closed.
I think, all these charges broke his stealth spirit telling upon his health. A human being has limits to bear the shocks in life and political witch hunt whether by him or by opponents can do great harm to your health. After all. politicians are also human being and possess similar strength and weaknesses.
Anyways, Congress and people of the state will definitely miss the "Raja" in electoral politics.
(Chander Sharma)
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