“I Am A Former Chief Minister, Not A Rejected One”: Shivraj Chouhan

Amid speculation about what he and the BJP are planning for his future, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said he is addressed as a former chief minister but is not a rejected one, and that people’s love for him has remained strong despite stepping down from the top post in Madhya Pradesh.

“I’m now addressed as the former chief minister, but I’m not a rejected chief minister. Many times, chief ministers quit the post when people start abusing them for being in power for too long. But, even after quitting the chief minister’s post, people shout for me and call out ‘Mama’ wherever I go. The love of the people is my real treasure,” Mr Chouhan, whose popular nickname means uncle, said while addressing an event at the MIT School of Government in Pune on Friday.

“Stepping down from the chief minister post doesn’t mean that I will leave active politics. I am not in politics for any post, but for serving the people,” the BJP’s longest-serving chief minister said.

Speaking about his long electoral career, starting with his maiden assembly polls triumph from his home seat of Budhni in 1990, Mr Chouhan attributed his victories to contesting elections honestly.

“I don’t speak the language of arrogance. I have won 11 elections but I don’t campaign for myself in the elections. I go to the constituency just a day before filing the nomination, when the people of the village come to me with money and a list of contributors. If you contest elections honestly, people will side with you,” he asserted.

The remarks come a month after Mohan Yadav was named the chief minister in Madhya Pradesh and not Mr Chouhan, who was looking for a fifth term. The BJP had swept the elections in the state, winning 163 out of 230 seats despite being in power there for nearly 20 years.

Soon after the results were declared on December 3 and there was a buzz about a new face becoming the next Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Mr Chouhan had said, “While other BJP leaders are going to Delhi, I won’t go to Delhi. I would prefer dying rather than going to Delhi to ask something for myself.”

Cryptic Remarks

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister has also hit the headlines for a few cryptic comments made over the past few weeks.

Just a few days after Dr Mohan Yadav replaced him, Mr Chouhan had said “Sometimes one gets ‘vanvas’ (exile) while a ‘raj tilak’ (coronation) is imminent, but whatever happens actually takes place for a bigger purpose.”

A few days later, while addressing a spiritual organisation’s event in Bhopal, he had said, “There are also people who change their colour if one isn’t the chief minister anymore. They treat his feet like a lotus, but once he isn’t in power, then his pictures disappear from hoardings like horns from the head of a donkey.”