Chandigarh: Villagers at Dogda Ahir in Haryana’s Mahendragarh district protested against CM Manohar Lal Khattar Friday for declaring Sihma village as a sub-tehsil instead of their own. They alleged that their village was bigger in area and population and sought an upgradation to its administrative status, the demand for which, they said, was much older.
A sub-tehsil is a small administrative unit within a district with a designated populated area where people’s official chores like revenue matters, registration of properties, etc., are executed.
Khattar, who was in Mahendragarh for the last leg of his three-day Jan Samvad (public interaction) programme, stayed the night at the residence of a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker at Dogda Ahir Thursday. The next morning, villagers assembled outside the house and held a sit-in.
However, they later dispersed after the chief minister called some of them inside and assured that a feasibility assessment would be conducted for their village as well.
On Thursday, Khattar was in Sihma, where he announced the grant of sub-tehsil status to the village amid applause.
Speaking about the incident at Dogda Ahir, a senior official of the Haryana government, requesting anonymity, told ThePrint that it was nothing but an attempt by the villagers to raise their concern with the chief minister, which was then promptly addressed.
The protests came close on the heels of an incident at Bani village of Sirsa on 15 May when a woman sarpanch, Naina Jhorar, threw her dupatta on Khattar’s feet during a Jan Samwad programme, accusing him of refusing to listen to her grievance.
According to former journalist Pawan Kumar Bansal, who has authored three books on Haryana politics, it is unprecedented for villagers to lay siege to a place where a chief minister stayed the night.
“It is a failure of the state intelligence agencies, who should have gauged the anger among the villagers and apprised the CM about this in advance,” he told ThePrint Saturday.
Speaking about the incidents in Sirsa and Mahendragarh districts, Bansal said these incidents were worrying signs for Khattar and the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Khattar, who has hinted that he favours simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and Haryana Assembly, has started his Jan Samvad programmes to meet people and address their grievances.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)