Punjab Candidate watch: ‘I’m now Minnat Raj Minnat, they do not let me be Hans Raj Hans’

“Bechara Minnat Raj Minnat tuhada bhra. Hans Raj Hans tan rehan hi nahi ditta (Your poor brother is now Minnat Raj Minnat (pleading). They do not let me be Hans Raj Hans). Do I look like Taimur Lang? Am I Mohd Tughlaq? My wife tells me to unfold my hands when I fall asleep as I always appear to be pleading with folded hands,” Hans could be heard saying in a video that went viral.

The sitting BJP MP from the North-West Delhi seat, Hans is having a tough time reaching out to his voters in Punjab’s Faridkot as farmers in this state see this as an opportune time to remind the BJP of its unfulfilled promises made to them during their protest against now repealed three farm laws at the Delhi border in 2020-21, scuttling the farmers’ march to Delhi and the death of Shubhkaran Singh at the Punjab-Haryana border during the ‘Dilli Chalo’ protest march.

“Many candidates are in the fray, but they are only after poor Hans Raj Hans. Wherever I go, they come down heavily on me and attack me personally. At least 35-40 people get after me. They do not let me speak. I am ready to answer their questions, but my voice gets lost. They raise their voice. I want to go to villages. I want to go to every home, in farmers’ and labourers’ houses. But I have decided that I will go. No matter what. It is the responsibility of the administration to ensure a candidate can go seeking votes in a democracy,” the 62-year-old soft-spoken and humble Hans said.

“I can take your issue to the appropriate place. I have no greed for a Cabinet berth. I am not here to just contest an election. If that was the case, then I would have done something else. I can do at least this much, that I can take the issue. I speak for the farmers as I feel strongly for them. My father has been working for farmers. I am not thankless,” he told farmers when confronted on a late evening.
Asked why he was running away from the spot when confronted, he was heard telling farmers, “I am not running away. Humans fear God. And God fears Jats (farmers). If they come to me, then I am ready to answer their questions. But in Faridkot, you people started brandishing lathis. When a lathi smashed my windowpane, I felt as if it hit my shoulders. I am no Dara Singh. Neither I am like Jagga Zimidar. I am scared of even pellets of the bullet. When I see your deep eyes, I just tell myself to leave the spot.”

“I am ready to sit in front of you without my security. I am a part of power and can take you to the person who has a solution to your problems. But I can tell you that they think these are rich farmers with land worth hundreds of acres. They are at the top positions everywhere. I am the only one from among the poor,” Hans said.

At the same time, he said, “I am thankful to a Jat, Satnam Singh Gill, who was responsible for getting my first record released. He gave a blank cheque to the company. I am so indebted to them. I am ready to answer all questions. You just give a message that I am ready to go anywhere and wherever they want me. I swear by the Gurus that I will not ditch Punjab.”

In the same breath, Hans found an opportunity to seek votes, “Can’t you send me to parliament? If then I do not take up your issues, you heckle me and shoo me away. You can shoo anyone. But I am not among those who run away. I am not a coward but I am not a confrontationist either. I am thanking the tenth Guru today that you people have spoken to me like this today.” Hans has been in politics for over a decade. He was earlier with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 2009 and had contested the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat unsuccessfully. He quit the SAD in 2014 and joined the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections in 2017. He was tipped to be a Rajya Sabha member but the berth was denied to him. He then joined the BJP and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Delhi.

Hans has been praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has done a lot for the Sikh community and cited the opening of the Kartarpur corridor and observing Veer Divas as a tribute to Sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh. He mesmerised the audience in his constituency with the rendition of kirtan on Baisakhi.