New Delhi: The Congress is miffed over the Himachal Pradesh government's controversial nameplate order for street vendors coming in the middle of crucial state elections and has sought an explanation from senior party leaders over the fiasco.
Sensing the HP government's move could dent the grand old party’s anti-BJP stand in the middle of assembly elections in Haryana, UT J&K, and the elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand likely in November, the Congress high command has gone into a damage control mode.
After All Indis Congress Committee (AICC) minority department head Imran Pratapgarhi briefed Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi over the concerns shared by community leaders over the said HP government order, AICC in charge of Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla sought an explanation from minister Vikramaditya Singh, who announced the decision.
"The timing of the decision is suspicious and we know that Vikramaditya had aspired to become the Chief Minister earlier," a senior AICC functionary said.
According to party insiders, the controversial order may be withdrawn given it has not gone down well with the high command including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and LoP Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the campaign for the assembly polls, including in neighbouring Haryana.
The reason is that the HP government order is similar to the guidelines issued by BJP's Uttar Pradesh government which were slammed by the Congress and other opposition parties as identity politics against the Muslims and the Dalits.
The UP guidelines asking the street vendors along the Kanwar Yatra route to display nameplates was put on hold by the Supreme Court in an interim order which directed vendors to display only information about the kind of food they were serving. Taking a cue from UP, the BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand too had issued similar directives.
Though a section of Congress leaders questioned the timing and the intent of the controversial HP order, AICC secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh Chetan Chauhan defended the state government's move.
"The nameplate order issued by the HP government is not the same as the one issued earlier by the Yogi Adityanath government in UP. This is a social welfare move aimed at protecting consumer interests. The state government will create a database of all the street vendors in Himachal Pradesh and give them identity cards which they will have to display. This will allow the state government to regulate the street vendors and frame welfare policies for them. The move will help in controlling the quality of food being served by the street vendors and has nothing to do with their identity," Chauhan told ETV Bharat.
According to the AICC functionary, the BJP was just trying to fish in troubled waters by trying to rake up a controversy where there was none.
"The BJP has sensed its defeat in the coming state elections and has therefore resorted to old tactics. The HP government’s move has not come in the background of a religious event like it happened in UP and the said decision will have no impact on either the Haryana or the UT J&K elections. The BJP is desperate to save its government in Haryana and they know they are going to lose J&K," Chauhan added.
Meanwhile, Vikramaditya Singh, said, "Anyway, shops normally display their registration number and so on...But this is for the internal security of the state and the apprehensions that have been raised, this needs to be seen that way. An all-party committee has also been constituted and that would look into every detail...There can be no compromise with internal security concerns of the state."
"It is the responsibility of the state government and all of us to maintain peace in the state in wake of the chain of events that have taken place in Himachal Pradesh in the past few days," the minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Vikramaditya Singh is a cabinet minister in the Sukhvinder Sukhu government of Himachal Pradesh. He holds the portfolio of Urban Development and PWD. He had unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha Election against BJP nominee and actress Kangana Ranaut.
