Sankalp Foundation, the NGO behind the “Main Bhi Chowkidar” cups which were withdrawn by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) following a row on Friday with the Model Code of Conduct in place, is not new to such controversy. On January 31, 2015, The Indian Express had reported about tea being served on board the Shatabdi Express in paper cups which had photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. Many such cups were found lying on the floor after the train pulled up at Amritsar around 11 pm. The cups had a toll free number and an appeal in Hindi to join the BJP. “Bhajpa ke sadasya banein. Saath aayein, desh banayein (Become a member of BJP. Come along, build the nation),” it read. However, there were no elections or a Model Code of Conduct in place then. Read | Railways says contractor fined after tea served on train in ‘Main bhi chowkidar’ cups The ads were printed on behalf of Sankalp Foundation, which described itself as a “charitable trust without any object of profit making” on its website. The only two faces displayed on this website at that time were of “senior vice president” Rajeev Mittal and “vice president” Satya Bhushan Jain — the designations were interchanged on the cups. A perusal of the website on Friday showed Rajeev Mittal as “Hon’ble President” of the Sankalp Foundation Committee and Vayshali Mittal as the “Chairperson”. Click here for more election news The portal had photographs of senior BJP leaders as “Our Speakers”. These include Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Harsh Vardhan, besides former MoS (Independent charge) Rajiv Pratap Rudy, and MoS (Railways) Manoj Sinha. According to reports, IRCTC has withdrawn the “Main Bhi Chowkidar” cups and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the service provider. After the incident in 2015, the licencee was asked to give an explanation and “subsequently a fine to the tune of Rs 1,00,000 has been imposed”, according to a reply filed in the Lok Sabha. Rajeev Mittal did not respond despite several attempts by The Sunday Express to reach him for comment. In 2015, Mittal had said, “I have only one vendor and he mixed this up. The cups that were used in trains were actually meant for political rallies.”
