Birender Singh issues ultimatum: Won’t stay if BJP-JJP alliance continues

He said if the BJP thinks that the JJP can fetch the alliance votes in next year’s elections, then they are mistaken. “The JJP is not even going to get their own votes. If BJP wants to contest polls the right way, then they (JJP) should be shown the door. Then maybe people will listen,” he said.

He was addressing a rally —Meri Awaaz Suno (listen to my voice) — in Jind in his stronghold Jind. His supporters had earlier said that the rally, held without flags and banners of BJP, was a “non-political programme”.

Accusing the JJP of indulging in rampant corruption, but without naming anyone, the former Union minister said, “A big leader of the JJP has betrayed the people in such a massive way that no other political leader of Haryana has. People come to me and talk about rampant corruption which they (JJP leaders) are indulging in”.

The JJP, founded by Dushyant’s father Ajay Singh Chautala, had joined hand with the BJP in 2019 after the saffron outfit fell short of the majority mark by six seats in the Assembly polls. In the 90-member Vidhan Sabha, BJP has 40 MLAs and the JJP 10. In the recent weeks, both parties have said that they are preparing to contest on all the 10 Lok Sabha as well all 90 Assembly seats.

Singh also spoke about the circumstances which led him to join the BJP in 2014 after snapping his over four-decades-old association with the Congress and reminded the saffron party he and others made contributions in bringing the party to power in state that year.

“Birender Singh, Rao Inderjit Singh, Ramesh Kaushik and Dharambir Singh who joined the BJP (from Congress) strengthened the party, which did not have much base in the state then,” he said.

Again without taking names, he took on those within the BJP who said that Singh was given respect and a ministerial berth in the first term of the Narendra Modi government. “You (BJP) gave something to us, after we helped bring the party to power,” said the 77-year-old.

“I was with the Congress for 42 years and worked with dedication. The Congress gave me full respect and I gained the support and trust of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. But everyone knows why I left the Congress. I received a letter that I was being inducted into the Union Cabinet during UPA-2 and 6,000 of my supporters gathered at my Delhi residence. Just four hours before I was to take the oath, the decision was changed. It was not about ministerial berth being denied, but when you get a letter about induction and it is public and then after that, the decision is changed, it hurt me,” he said.

He also said that he has got a lot of respect from the BJP and there is no reason for him to criticise the party. “But Birender Singh always speaks his mind and that is my nature,” he said.

“When the farmers’ agitation(against the now-repealed farm laws) was going on, I was the only BJP leader who stood in support of the farmers. When Haryana’s wrestler daughters sat on protest and talked about grave injustice, I extended my support,” he said.

The wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, who hail from Haryana, have been demanding action against BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, whom they have accused of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation.

Singh’s son and BJP MP from Hisar, Brijendra Singh, stood by his father. “Today everyone is keen to know what will Chaudhary Birender Singh do? I would like to say…You have been in politics for 50-52 years…now do what you want to do. Don’t think about who will be gain or lose”.

Several speakers at the rally hailed the contribution of Singh’s grandfather Sir Chhotu Ram who championed the cause of farmers in the pre-Independence era. They also demanded that the Bharat Ratna award be bestowed posthumously upon renowned agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan.

Referring to Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, an initiative by the Union government to give farmers up to Rs 6,000 per year as minimum income support, the Singh said, “Now it is said that every four months, farmers will get Rs 2,000. Farmers don’t want any charity. If farmers get the proper price for their produce, they will neither ask for subsidies for urea, power or seeds.

Former MP Jagmeet Brar, while speaking on the occasion, pointed towards Singh and said, “Even though it is a non-political rally… I want to say that Chaudhary Sahab, Bhupinder Singh Hooda is also our brother. If Birender Singh and Chaudhary Ranbir Singh’s son (Hooda) join hands, out of 90 Assembly seats in Haryana, they will get 80 seats.”

The rally organised under the banner of “Birender Singh ke Sathi (Friends of Birender Singh)” is seen as a show of strength by the BJP leader ahead of the parliamentary polls and Haryana assembly polls due in October 2024.

Notably, Singh’s family and JJP chief Ajay Singh’s family are political arch-rivals. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Brijendra defeated Dushyant as well as Kuldeep Bishnoi’s son Bhavya Bishnoi (who was also then with the Congress), to win the Hisar Lok Sabha seat. In the 2019 Assembly polls, Dushyant defeated Singh’s wife Prem Lata, a BJP candidate, in the Uchana Kalan seat in Jind district.