NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

The Rediff Interview/Kalpana Parulekar

'Digvijay has violated the law'

When Kalpana Parulekar , a dissident Congress legislator from Madhya Pradesh, met All-India Congress Committee general secretary Ambika Soni at her New Delhi residence last week, Soni's initial reaction was, "Oh, Atom Bomb! I hope I don't have to put a bullet-proof jacket before meeting you!"

That may have been an exaggeration, but she was echoing sentiments of senior leaders in the Madhya Pradesh Congress.

Parulekar has kept the state government on tenterhooks over the sacking of daily wage employees. The 48-year-old lady, in a crumpled cotton sari, is known for her sharp tongue and mercurial temper -- notwithstanding a bypass operation she underwent. She does not mince words while criticising Chief Minister Digvijay Singh.

In fact, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharati calls her the Mamata Banerjee of Madhya Pradesh.

A disciple of social worker Baba Amte, Parulekar was a lecturer before joining politics in 1980. She has been jailed 24 times. As a legislator too she was put behind bars thrice. And each time, despite her refusal to furnish bail, the government was forced to release her.

Parulekar, also a lawyer, had taken on the state government over the farmers' issue. Earlier, she had launched an agitation for prohibition in her constituency, Mahidpur, in Ujjain district. Excerpts from an interview she gave Rahul Singh in Bhopal:

Why have you threatened to stall proceedings of the Madhya Pradesh assembly if the government does not reinstate daily wage workers?

The government says it served notices under the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Regulation Act, but the act was abolished in 1999. The chief minister has violated the law. I am fighting a war to free the state from the clutches of dictators.

I told Governor Bhai Mahavir that if there was no justice, I will not permit proceedings of the assembly.

You have taken up the cause of daily wagers. But your party's government says that they were appointed in contravention of a ban.

The government cannot sack daily wagers. It is a violation of the Industrial Disputes Act. Unfortunately, Digvijay Singh has made it a prestige issue. He told us that he had made it clear to Congress president Sonia Gandhi that he would not reinstate them even if he had to resign.

Why did you threaten self-immolation?

I did not want the chief minister to carry out his farce any further. The state is concerned over the issue. We have been agitating for five months. Thrice, tents pitched for the agitation were seized by the administration. Self-immolation by a legislator could make intellectuals think about the issue.

I am inspired by Bhagat Singh, who used to say, "It is the body that dies, not the revolution."

However, when the police came to arrest me from the site where I had threatened self-immolation, I forced them to arrest me under a non-bailable offence. I told them that I would set myself afire the moment I got released. I was arrested under Section 505 B, which is non-bailable and was in jail for 20 days. The government, making a mockery of judiciary, released me, claiming that the case had been withdrawn, as they could not find evidence against me.

The Madhya Pradesh government spends almost three-fourth of its funds on establishment costs. The government says that removal of daily wagers was part of its downsizing plan and an austerity measure.

Can one kill one's baby due to financial problems? These daily wagers have been working for the government for over a decade. How did they suddenly become useless?

Have you managed support from the anti-Digvijay camp in the Congress?

Arjun Singh, Kamal Nath, Motilal Vora and Madhavrao Scindia dare not deny support to the agitation. If they say anything negative, I will mobilise their constituencies against them.

Although you belong to the ruling party, why have you always been agitating against the government?

I am not agitating. I am just awakening the people's dead sensibilities. There is a difference of opinion between Digvijay Singh and me. I had raised other issues that only benefited people of the state.

After becoming a legislator, you had launched an anti-liquor movement in Mahidpur. What was its outcome?

It was a success. Mahidpur is now the only tehsil in the state where liquor is prohibited. The chief minister had initially opposed it.

You later launched a farmers' agitation and teamed up with Deputy Chief Minister Subhash Yadav, a dissident. What happened to that?

That was my agitation. Subhash Yadav teamed up with me. He was looking for support for political survival and he found that support in me. The agitation has drawn good results in my constituency. The functioning of grain markets has improved.

Subhash Yadav became deputy chief minister. It is alleged that you are agitating as you have not been given a ministerial berth.

Yadav has committed political suicide by accepting a berth in the ministry. He invited me to join the ministry, but I had told him that I could sacrifice 10 such ministerial posts for the cause of daily wagers.

Are you disappointed with the Congress high command's handling of the daily wagers issue?

There was a misunderstanding. That is why I am suffering. Sonia was upset because I joined hands with Bharati on the issue. But I convinced her of my sincerity. I told her that if the Congress backtracked, the BJP would walk away with the cake.

The Rediff Interviews

Tell us what you think of this interview