Wishes to Prahlad Ji and Ranjan Ji

Free Thinker *

One gentleman who is not very comfortable with politics told me “you have two Union Ministers from your State.” I clarified that we have only one Minister, Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh; of course, he holds two portfolios namely Education and External Affairs. Then he hinted, you have one more, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel.

Then I retorted back that he is very close to Manipur, but he is not from Manipur. The gentleman did not stop, he was doing it intentionally in a theatrical style; he added he is coming to Manipur. I said, yes, he is already here.

As a matter of fact Prahladji is so popular in Manipur, perhaps because of his free and frank nature; he welcomes everyone. He is so accessible that even a common man can see him and convey his or her wishes.

Once he told me in the beginning I know only two persons from Manipur – today he knows hundreds of people. For the last few years he has been trying to do something substantial for Manipur. He has a special affinity with Manipur perhaps because of his closeness to many of us.

One will be surprised to see a good number of Manipuris (coming and going) frequenting his official residence. I am told that when he was inducted as Minister by Modiji for the first time, people who came from Manipur to congratulate him outnumbered the people from Madhya Pradesh.

And surprisingly he knows almost everyone by name. Once I visited him – there were already 15 visitors and out of that 6/7 of them were from Manipur. He jokingly asked me whether I know all of them. His love for the State is known to everyone.

Now, he is here in Manipur, for two days. He is no longer our State in-charge but still he is in our hearts; and perhaps he has the same feeling for the people of Manipur. The State Government is also quite comfortable with him. Once he told me – to suggest one or two big things for Manipur – which will remain in history.

I suggested to him – anything big related to Loktak or Kangla or Culture – will remain an imprint in our history. He might be waiting for the opportune time or perhaps waiting for a grand proposal from the State.

Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, MoS Education and External Affairs, Government of India is right now in Manipur, undergoing the “Jan Ashirwad Yatra” as per the instruction of the Hon. Prime Minister.

The genesis of this “Jan Ashirwad Yatra” is traceable from the pandemonic Parliament during the recently held Monsoon session. It is a Parliamentary convention that whenever new Ministers are inducted in the Council of Ministers the Prime Minister introduces them in both the Chambers of Parliament-Upper House (Rajya Sabha) and Lower House (Lok Sabha).

This time, this practice could not be complied with due to the ‘Pegasus ruckus’ in Parliament. When he tried to introduce the new Ministers there was a lot of hue and cry. Then in the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting Hon. PM insisted that the newly appointed Union Ministers to undertake “Jan Arshirwad Yatra” in their respective regions , so as to introduce themselves to the people and at the same time to get their blessings.

He also made it a point that they cover at least 300-400 kms. on road. After getting the blessings from the people the Ministers are supposed to listen to the grievances and problems of the common people so that they find the remedies when they come back to office.

It is learnt that Dr Rajkumar Ranjan has already covered more than 300 kms in the Sate. Actually he started his Yatra from Nagaland, covered Kohima and later on entered Manipur. If counted the distance from Dimapur, he has already covered 400 kms.

From Mao to Imphal, from Imphal to Moreh and then to Churachandpur and in this journey he had already attended 30 meetings, met more than 90 delegations belonging to various Organizations, NGOs, Associations and Groups.

During his 3 days Yatra, Dr RK Ranjan has attended a series of meetings, receptions and gatherings. Almost everywhere Dr Ranjan made it very clear that this time he has come to seek the blessings of the people. He wishes to get the power and strength from the boons of the people. That is also the true spirit of Democracy- Constitution is a formality.

Let us hope his first formidable task as Foreign Minister to start the Imphal-Mandalay Bus Service a grand success. And as Education Minister in-charge of Minorities he desires to visit and to see the condition of 75 minority educational institutions in the backward areas of the country–as a part of “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotav”, celebrating 75th year of Independence.

His visit may trigger a giant step in the improvement of minority institutions of the country which are lagging behind (Minorities include Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Christians, Muslims etc).

Let’s pray both our Ministers do exceedingly well in serving the country and its people.