Gurugram: Former BJP MP from Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu Santosh Ahlawat has landed herself in a controversy after she allegedly told party workers that government employees who don’t vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi won’t have a right to sit in their offices and do their jobs after the elections.
Her words have drawn strong reactions from the Opposition, with Congress MLA from Surajgarh Sharwan Kumar asking why no action has been taken by the Election Commission.
Ahlawat, 61, who was dropped by the BJP for Lok Sabha in 2019, was speaking Saturday at a booth-level workers’ meeting in the Surajgarh assembly segment under Jhunjhunu. She contested the seat in November last year and lost to Congress’s Sharwan Kumar.
Rajasthan will be going to polls in two phases on 19 and 26 April, with Jhunjhunu voting in the first phase.
A purported video of Ahlawat’s speech while campaigning for party nominee Shubhkaran Choudhary has gone viral on the social media platform X.
मोदी को वोट नहीं देने वाले को कोई अधिकार नहीं है वह दफ़्तर में बैठकर नौकरी करें !#LokSabhaElections2024 #SantoshAhlawat #Surajgadh #BJP4IND pic.twitter.com/zDUy7814Ou
— थार संवाद (@TharSamwad) April 1, 2024
In her rustic Bagri dialect, and with workers cheering her on, Ahlawat is purportedly heard saying: “Ek vada karu thhare se. Mere karyakarta ko, mere voter ko, mere shubhchintak ko, koi mai ka laal kisi daftar mein baith kar sata nahi payega (I am promising you… No one sitting on a government office chair can harass my workers, my voters, and my well-wishers).”
She went on to give an “open invitation” to government officials to “either learn to behave or pack your bags”.
“I won’t allow you to enter Surajgarh for five years. Tell this to the entire village because someone cautioned me yesterday not to speak like this. I am repeating it again. Those who don’t vote for Narendra Modi don’t have a right to sit in a government office in Surajgarh Vidhan Sabha seat and do their jobs,” the leader said.
Congress MLA from Surajgarh Sharwan Kumar posted the video on his Facebook page with the comments: “Where is the Election Commission? If you are alive then show up around, do something. Otherwise, stop the theatrics of the elections and make Modiji sit on the throne.”
Kumar told The Print that such behaviour was not displayed even by rajwaras or the royals.
“‘Pack your bags if you won’t vote for Modi. I won’t allow you to enter.’ What language is this? Is this a democracy or a monarchy?” the Congress MLA asked.
Kumar said he had brought this to the notice of the party candidate for Jhunjhunu and would soon be writing to the Election Commission of India. He also said this workers’ meeting was held in the Tagore Senior Secondary School, which is owned by the Ahlawat family.
As per the records available on the Digital Sansad website, Santosh Ahlawat’s permanent address is mentioned as the Tagore Senior Secondary School, Ward No 2, Surajgarh in Jhunjhunu.
The Congress has fielded former minister Brijendra Singh Ola, a son of former Union Minister late Sis Ram Ola, from Jat-dominated Jhunjhunu against Shubhkaran Choudhary.
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Ahlawat: An agriculturist and educationist
With a Master’s degree in arts and education from Rajasthan University, Jaipur, Santosh Ahlawat’s profession mentioned in the website is that of an “agriculturist and educationist”.
Her biodata says she was a member of the district council, Jhunjhunu from 1995 to 2000 and from 2005 to 2010.
She worked as vice-president of the BJP in Rajasthan from 2003 to 2005, district vice-president of the 20-point programme from 2003 to 2008, Member, Mahila Front, Rajasthan BJP from 2005 to 2008, Member (Special Invitee), Rajasthan BJP from 2005 to May 2014, Member, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from 2013 to May 2014 and Member of Parliament from 2014 to 2019.
During her term as MP, she served as a member of the Committee on the Welfare of OBCs and a member of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.
In the 2013 Rajasthan election, Ahlawat won Surajgarh defeating Sharwan Kumar by over 50,000 votes. She polled 61.99 percent votes to Kumar’s 33.39 percent polled by her Congress counterpart.
Months later, she won the Jhunjhunu Parliamentary seats in 2014 riding on the Modi wave by defeating Raj Bala Ola of the Congress by a margin of 2.34 lakh votes.
The BJP dropped her in 2019 and fielded Narendra Kumar who also won the seat by defeating Sharwan Kumar by a margin of over 3 lakh votes. These elections, the party has dropped Kumar and fielded Shubhkaran Choudhary.
In the assembly election held in November last year, Ahlawat was defeated by Sharwan Kumar by a margin of 37,414 votes from Surajgarh.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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