By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 26 Feb: Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat along with party workers observed a symbolic ‘Maun Vrata’ for an hour outside the Gandhi Park, here, today. After the conclusion of the fast, he along with other Congress workers and supporters prayed for grant of wisdom to the Dhami Government by singing the ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ bhajan.
The silence was observed by Rawat and his supporters in protest against the alleged “insult to Gairsain” by the Dhami Government by holding the budget session in Dehradun.
Later, speaking to media persons, Harish Rawat said that this is a fast of silence in protest against the continued disregard of Gairsain by the government. The government of Uttarakhand that was created as a Himalayan state feels cold in Gairsain and, therefore, avoids holding a session there. Rawat said that not organising the budget session in the summer capital is also a disregard for the resolution passed by the Assembly.
Rawat sought to remind that, during his tenure as Chief Minister, the assembly building was constructed in Gairsain, assembly sessions were held there, and a resolution was also passed to hold the future budget sessions in Gairsain. Rawat said that the purpose of his fast was to help the government to gain some wisdom along with a sense of atonement, as he is now ridden with the feeling that he might have made a mistake by spending hundreds of crores of rupees on Gairsain. He added that his inability to assess public sentiments correctly was also a mistake.
He claimed that holding a parallel budget session in Gairsain is an innovative effort on the part of the INDI Alliance to express public sentiments for which Uttarakhand Congress and all the allies deserve to be congratulated.
He said it is the misfortune of Uttarakhand that the public representatives here feel very cold. He also raised questions regarding the duration of the budget session, claiming that even after seven years of overwhelming majority and double engine, if the state government is not able to make even basic arrangements for the employees, police personnel and journalists in Gairsain, then who else can be blamed other than the government.
