Day after seers criticise him, Computer Baba opens front against Shivraj, BJP

BHOPAL: Namdev Das Tyagi, a Hindu leader popularly known as Computer Baba who recently relinquished a minister-of-state rank, attacked the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on Tuesday, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration betrayed the people by not doing enough to save the Narmada river or cows.

At a convention of Hindu religious figures in Indore, Tyagi said he would like to see the Chouhan government dislodged and that he would go from village to village for the conservation of the Narmada river. “All saints are ready to sacrifice their life for the Narmada,” he said.

His comments came barely a day after a separate convention of Hindu seers in Bhopal, attended by Chouhan, criticised Tyagi and said the chief minister was a religious person working in the interest of the state.

Madhya Pradesh goes to the polls on November 28.

Tyagi and four other Hindu seers had been granted minister of state status in April after he and Yogendra Mahant announced they would take out a ‘Narmada Ghotala Rath Yatra’ to expose illegal mining. In October, Tyagi resigned after differences over the creation of a cow ministry.

State BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal dismissed Tyagi’s comments.

“People of Madhya Pradesh are wise enough to understand the design behind such conventions at the election time,” he said.

State Congress media coordinator Narendra Saluja said, “The sadhus and saints who got minister of state status from the government not long ago are now villain in the government’s eyes. Now, BJP leaders are saying they (Sadhus) don’t have much influence in their community. What a U-turn on the BJP’s part!”