Farmers Movement Archive

Master Mohan Lal is back in the reckoning

This supremely fit septuagenarian has done his Masters in seven subjects-English, Hindi, Punjabi, Political Science, History, Sanskrit and Law. Even his detractors admit that he carries the quality of doublethink. His deep knowledge and understanding of things— political or otherwise — makes him the master of doublethink which is the ability to hold two completely contradictory beliefs at the same time and to believe they are both true. This is precisely why he can hold his own in debates or discussions on any topic under the sun. He has remained a national level grappler and his performances as Ravana on stage in Ram Lilas from 1966 till 2001 were always lapped up by the audiences. His rapport with central leaders is also well known. The man, however, has a grudge, not against his parent party but against some of its leaders. In 2012, then BJP state President Ashwani Sharma, a former protégé of Master, pulled the rug from under Guru’s feet when he managed the party ticket from Pathankot city. At that time Master was the sitting MLA. He also carries a chip on the shoulder for the manner in which he was unceremoniously booted out as transport minister in 2011. To his credit, he did not let these aberrations make permanent scars on his political career. After a hiatus of nearly 8 years, man, who runs a wrestling coaching centre in the town, is now back in the reckoning. The recent tractor-trolley rally taken out by the BJP in Pathankot has acted as a catalyst in his return to the political stage. This time it will be a toss-up between the ‘Guru’ and ‘Chela’ for the ticket. There are also whispers doing the rounds in party circles that he may either be given a gubernatorial post or a big time responsibility in the BJP national hierarchy. A victory for Master’s party in the polls will surely be taken cognisance of by the senior leadership.Convincing farmers regarding farm lawsAfter the October 4 tractor-trolley rally in Pathankot, dubbed as an ‘awareness rally’ by the BJP in contrast to the ‘protest rallies’ being held by the Congress, SAD and AAP, three-time MLA and former Deputy Speaker Dinesh Babbu has earned the sobriquet of ‘The Lone Ranger’ for the effort he put in to make the event a success. The Assembly seat that he represents, Sujanpur, is predominantly a rural seat and hence the maximum number of tractors and farmers were from his area. Once the central leadership approved the event a few days ago, Babbu was clearly told by the party high command that the rally’s success depended solely on him. On his part, the MLA, known for his proximity to central leadership, including Rajnath Singh, said it turned out to be one of the most difficult assignments he had been given till now. “Parties opposing the Bills had fed so much misinformation among the farmers that it became an onerous task for me to motivate them to join today’s proceedings. The main problem was to drill in their psyche that neither the MSP structure would be disbanded nor their agricultural lands would be mortgaged to private players,” said Babbu. At the end of the day, the legislator was smiling as the majority of men and machines came from Sujanpur. (Contributed by Ravi Dhaliwal)

The Tribune

2020-10-07