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Journalism of Courage
Dilip Singh Judeo is 54, has spent close to 3,000 weeks on planet Earth but has never been as famous as over the past seven days. The former Union minister of state for environment was forced into the limelight 8212; and forced out of the government 8212; after The Sunday Express published details of him being trapped on video, seen accepting money from a shifty gent in a Delhi hotel.
After a few hours of silence, Judeo was back in business, doing what he does best 8212; shooting with his mouth. Blaming the Chhattisgarh chief minister for the 8216;8216;sting operation8217;8217;, Judeo renewed a declaration of war, 8216;8216;Ajit Jogi has awakened a sleeping tiger.8217;8217; With that he rushed right into the BJP8217;s election campaign in the state. BJP poll managers says he8217;s so much 8216;8216;in demand8217;8217; that there are requests for Judeo meetings in 78 of the state8217;s 90 constituencies.
Just who is this Judeo, moustachioed Thakur who 8212; by all accounts 8212; enjoys his drink, wears his faith on his sleeve, loves the political colours of saffron but dresses in military-style olive green?
He likens himself to a general, fighting the divisions of the Pope, leading a Sangh army that tries to recapture tribal Christians for Hinduism. Entering the Environment Ministry earlier this year, he told gathered burueacrats, 8216;8216;Hum to Ghar Vapasi wale aadmi hain I8217;m the Ghar Vapasi man.8217;8217; Those not in the loop didn8217;t take long to find out that Ghar Vapaasi Abhiyan literally Return Home Campaign was the reconversion programme Judeo ran.
An alumnus of Raipur8217;s Rajkumar College 8212; one of the 8216;8216;chief8217;s colleges8217;8217; set up by the British to educate Indian princes 8212; Judeo learnt his first lessons in religio-politics from his father, the late Raja Vijai Bhushan Singh Judeo, who took on missionaries in Jashpur in his time.
Later junior Judeo came to be associated with the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram 8212; the RSS offshoot dedicated to work among tribals 8212; and the Shri Sarveshari Sangh, Kashi, and soon became a great favourite of RSS conservatives and of the VHP. Their goodwill is the reason he seems to have survived this past week8217;s scandal, which would have wrecked careers of the lesser connected.
Judeo began his political life in 1975, as chief of the local municipal board. By 1987, he had graduated to taking on Congress strongman Arjun Singh in the Kharsia assembly byelection. Arjun was coming back to state politics after a stint as governor of Punjab but Judeo gave him a run for his money. He lost narrowly and, true to form, blamed Arjun8217;s poll manager for contriving a victory. Arjun8217;s poll manager was 8230; Ajit Jogi.
In 1991, Judeo finally made it to the Lok Sabha from Jangir and began a parliamentary career that culminated in 8212; depending on how you see it 8212; either the Environment Ministry or a hotel room.
Judeo8217;s best known attribute is his motor-mouth, he is an exponent of outrageous, outlandish and extreme statements, some borrowed from Hindi films. One one occasion, he came out in support of Dara Singh, Graham Staines8217; killer, only to have an embarrassed BJP disowning his opinion.
When he was sworn in as minister, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayere apparently told him, 8216;8216;Apni vani par sanyam rakhiye ga Control your tongue.8217;8217; Judeo promptly went and told all and sundry what Vajpayee had said.
Put simply, Judeo sees himself as Hindutva8217;s missile. To the rest of the BJP, he8217;s a loose cannon 8212; whose volley is sometimes worth the backfire.
