Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Delhi move: A promotion or loss of MP clout?

Ever since Shivraj Singh Chouhan left Bhopal for Delhi to become agriculture and rural development minister in the Narendra Modi 3.0 government, he’s been feeling a bit lonely. And who can blame him? In theory, his move to Delhi — which was accompanied with tearful goodbyes in Bhopal — was a significant promotion. Together, the two ministries he was given command over Rs 4.15 trillion of the country’s annual Budget.

 

But over the months, with farmers camping at the Delhi border and seeking assurances on agri pricing, it has also become open season for people with little domain knowledge to take swipes at his work. MP from Mandi, Kangana Ranaut, described farmers sitting on strike at the Delhi border as a bunch of “separatists” right around the time he had invited them for negotiations in Krishi Bhavan (he told them “agriculture is the backbone of India’s economy and farmers are its soul and serving farmers is like worshipping God for us”, according to a press release issued by the government).

 

“Jagdeep Dhankhar is a farmer’s son, that’s why he is pained. We have made honest efforts to solve the problems of the farmers. Farmers expressed concerns about soybean prices in Maharashtra, and we increased them. Similarly, when they complained about export duties on rice, we reduced them,” the agriculture minister had to explain on December 13 at a public function when it was put to him that the Vice-President had addressed him directly by name at Mumbai, where both leaders were present at the same function. Both were present at the centenary celebrations of the Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology. The video of the agriculture minister of India explaining himself is publicly available.

 

“Can we create a boundary between the farmer and the government? I do not understand why there is no dialogue with the farmers. My concern is why this initiative has not happened so far,” Mr Dhankhar had said, asking the agriculture minister if his predecessor had given any assurances in writing to the agitating farmers and if these remained unfulfilled. Later that week, possibly to make up with the minister, the Vice-President referred to Mr Chouhan in the Rajya Sabha as the “laadla” of farmers.

 

In Madhya Pradesh, the government is taking decisions that it believes are in the larger interests of the state. For instance, the recent decision by the state government to turn the Ratapani animal sanctuary into a tiger reserve.

 

On the face of it, the decision is unexceptionable. After all, the sanctuary had been awaiting an upgrade to a reserve for 16 years. The National Tiger Conservation Authority gave in-principle approval to the proposal first in August 2008. In 2019, the Kamal Nath-led Congress government issued the notification turning it into a tiger reserve. But when Mr Chouhan’s government came to power in March 2020, the notification was cancelled. Ratapani has around 100 villages, which will have to be relocated — and the entire area falls in Sehore, Mr Chouhan’s area of influence. Once Ratapani becomes a tiger reserve, strict restrictions will govern land, forest and its produce. This will be politically inconvenient for Mr Chouhan. 

 

But it’s done now, and it is just one of the irritants in the relationship between Mr Chouhan and the current state chief minister, Mohan Yadav, such as it is. Mr Chouhan’s supporters are acutely conscious that they’re seeing the Empire slipping into the hands of someone who was a junior minister in the Chouhan government, a person who by his own admission, was sitting in the third row of the Legislature party meeting when his name was called out as chief minister. So now, no one really knows when Mr Chouhan visits Bhopal or when he leaves. It is largely a non-event. All this must be galling for the man who has been chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for over 16 years, was responsible for the soyabean revolution in the state and has created significant infrastructure. His Laadli Behna scheme was the template for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in many state elections it has won since.

 

In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP’s best performance was in the 2003 Assembly polls, when it won 173 seats in the 230-member Assembly. In 2018, the BJP won 109 seats and Jyotiraditya Scindia’s decision to ditch the Congress and join the BJP with his supporters led Mr Chouhan to become chief minister once again. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, under Mr Chouhan’s stewardship, the BJP was able to win all 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Chhindwara,which had been out of the party’s reach since 1998. Mr Chouhan himself won from Vidisha by a margin of over 800,000 votes, stupendous by any standards. His supporters say he deserved more responsibility.

 

So what now? From all accounts, Mr Chouhan has the full backing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In the delicate dance that will accompany the appointment of a new president of the party, Mr Chouhan could be a participant, among others. He has a non-confrontationist style and no one has ever heard him raise his voice. But on several occasions, he has also demonstrated that he is very much his own man. His impatience is hidden by his bland smile. But he is no pushover. Maybe this is the problem.