Shimla: Coming out of self contained silence, senior leader Major Vijay Singh Mankotia lashed out at both BJP and Congress saying that both parties had lost the capacity to protect the interests of state and give justice to the common man.
Speaking to My Himachal News, he said, “A land mafia that was active during the previous Virbhadra government had made inroads into the BJP government and large deals of land were being made directly or through benami deals.”
“The day is not far when we will turn refugees in our own land,” he warned.
The melodrama of preparing charge sheets, when in opposition, and using it as a plank to capture power by hoodwinking the people for votes has been played out several times. Once in power, a silent burial to the issues raised is given, he said.
Manoktia said that BJP with an anti-corruption campaign had raised several issues like a much publicized phone conversation, corrupt incidents in the former chief minister office, Dharmshala bus stand violations, Pre-Medical Entrance Test scam, Ski Village, Brakel and others, most of which figured in a charge sheet that was submitted to the then Governor.
“The party has been in power for over 13 months and has done very little to book the people it had pointed at,” he said.
Pointing out the issue of Dharmshala bus stand, he said, “The Supreme Court constituted a committee, slapped a Rs 1 crore fine and has asked for demolishing the illegal structure but to date there has been no follow up action by the state government.”
Announcing launch of ‘Aawam-e-Aadalat‘ – Court of the People, Mankotia said that he was not actively retuning to politics but the platform would act as a watchdog to expose corruption in high places.
He said that in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections the platform would be used to unmask acts of omission and commission by candidates of political parties, irrespective of which outfit they belonged to.
“We will be doing so, so that the right kind of people can be elected and get to serve the state,” he stated.
Asking senior citizen politicians to make way for younger leaders, he said, “to bring about change, a powerful nation like United States has empowered a 47 year old Barack Obama with the responsibility taking the nation forward and in Himachal we are relying on septuagenarian and octogenarian leaders to bring about change.”
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.
In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.
