On September 18, when hundreds of farmers thronged 12, Tuqlaq Road demanding a plush bungalow as memorial of former prime minister Charan Singh, only 15 persons had visited his Samadhi spread over 19 acre at Kisan Ghat, barely 18 km away from the Tughlaq Road bungalow.
"Not more than 15 people come to visit Kisan Ghat on any given day," informed a horticulture staff on duty. Kisan Ghat is located within the samadhi complex in the capital, right next to the samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi.
"I have been hearing on TV that some people have been demanding a memorial of Charan Singh, but nobody has come to pay homage to him here," he added.
The Kisan Ghat is almost 18 times bigger than the house that Ajit Singh and his supporters wanted to grab in the name of his father's memorial. Yet there are no taker for it.
The Kisan Ghat witnesses a bit of VIPs rush on December 23 and May 29 of every year, when the government observes Charan Singh's birth and death anniversary. His son Ajit Singh too shows up along with his family on this day. But it is a big deserted area for rest of the year.
"On two previous occasions, Ajit Singh did not even visit the samadhi. It was his son Jayant Chaudhary who came for the prayer meeting," said a CPWD officer, who is part of the maintenance team. He also helps performing hawan and prayer meeting on the said two days of the year. Of course, it is Ajit Singh's choice whether to go or not, but this point only exposes his hypocrisy over fight for the bungalow in the name of his father. Ajit Singh had been staying in that bungalow for the past 20 years and he was forced to evict after he lost the Lok Sabha elections.
While the samadhi continues to remain deserted, those demanding a memorial are in no mood to budge. The Bharatiya Kisan Union is holding a maha panchayat at Meerut in October 12 to push for their demand. "If the government can violate its own rules and give spaces for memorial of Babu Jagjivan Ram and Kanshi Ram, why can't they give it to us," said Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union. And Ajit Singh is still backing BKU's demand.
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