Ajit Singh

For refusing to vacate a sprawling government bungalow

Not wanting to give up government accommodation might be a norm for bureaucrats and politicians in the country, but Ajit Singh, son of former Prime Minister Charan Singh and chief of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), has made a very creative case.

Singh has been holding on to a government-allotted bungalow despite the termination of electricity and water supplies last week. He has ignored eviction notices and instead demanded that the property be converted into a memorial for his father.

The Government has refused his demands saying that the conversion of government bungalows into memorials was banned by the Union Cabinet in 2000. The law is not something that Singh is concerned about and he instead called for a so-called ‘Jat Mahapanchayat’ at the 12 Tughlaq Road bungalow to discuss memorial options. Despite the Delhi Police deeming the meeting ‘illegal’, the agitators managed to disrupt the lives of regular citizens by causing traffic jams throughout the city. The demand for the memorial is plain blackmail by another name and it would be downright foolish on the part of the Government to surrender to such petulance.

Ajit SinghDelhigovernment bungalow