Opinion Lutyens squatting

Ajit Singh has promised to move out of his Lutyens bungalow this week, and Delhi’s most dramatic property dispute is hopefully drawing to a close. But the demand for a memorial to his father, Chaudhary Charan Singh, right there refuses to go away. The political compulsions for that are obvious. Its career so far suggests that the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is a plug-and-play outfit that has made alliances across the political spectrum, apparently in return for a foothold in government, or a cabinet berth. But now, the Modi government, which has a comfortable majority, appears to have sent Ajit Singh to the discount shelves. Hence the suddenly loud clamour for a memorial to Charan Singh, from whom he had inherited both the bungalow and his political patrimony.

The political-electoral marginalisation of Ajit Singh is due to his failure to develop on his inheritance — the consolidated Jat vote, built on ethnic pride and the former prime minister’s sensitivity to agrarian issues. Memorialising his father would appear to be a neat way to guilt-trip the old flock. But a memorial to Charan Singh should be in Baghpat, not Delhi. Babu Jagjivan Ram should be memorialised in Sasaram, not on Krishna Menon Marg. The Lutyens Bungalow Zone barely has room for the living, and the dead simply must not encroach. Indeed, a cabinet note of the Vajpayee government had suggested barring memorials from the area.

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MPs can be tenants from hell and separating them from their bungalows sometimes requires surgical intervention. But Ajit Singh’s case is still eye-catching. He had not deigned to respond to the government’s eviction notice. A police party was sent packing by his supporters. And when the authorities turned off the water supply to the bungalow, Ajit Singh’s supporters tried, by means of a violent agitation, to cut off the capital’s water supply from the Ganges canal. This bizarre attempt only draws attention to their irrelevance and desperation. Communal violence in UP has fractured the Jat-Muslim vote base of the RLD, and it seems to be going out of business. In this condition, the party hopes that a memorial may yet rekindle old loyalties. But it would do better to spare overcrowded Delhi and turn its gaze to the vast open spaces of Baghpat.