Five religious leaders have been granted the status of ‘Minister of State’ (MoS) by the BJP government in the state of Madhya Pradesh, a move that has been viewed by the Congress and the opposition to be in connection with the elections that are to be held this year.
Hariharanand Maharaj, Bhayyu Maharaj, Narmadanand Maharaj, Pandit Yogendra Mahant and Computer Baba will enjoy the perks that are given to the ministers because of their membership of a committee that has been made for the conservation of the Narmada river.
Being the members of the committee, they have been granted the ministerial status, said an official of the GAD.
On the other hand, the Congress has termed this move to be a political gimmick by the government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan to cash in on more political points and make good use of the kind of cloud these babas have.
On the other hand, Pankaj Chaturvedi, spokesperson of the state Congress said, “This is also an effort by the chief minister to wash off his sins. He ignored the conservation of the Narmada”.
He further added, that these five leaders in the Narmada committee should find out if the six crore saplings have been planted by the state government along the banks of the river, as asserted by the chief minister.
Rajnish Agrawal, the spokesperson of the state BJP, jibed at the criticism and stated that the opposition despises everything that is in connection with the religious leaders. He said, “Saints and seers were accorded the Minister of State status to make their work of river conservation easy. The saints were roped in for the Narmada conservation work to ensure public participation”.
Computer Baba, one of the leaders, had declared that he will conduct a Narmada Ghotala Rath Yatra so as to expose the rigorous corruption in the work of Narmada conservation.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
