KISSA KURSI KA
claimed the lease was cancelled and the land repossessed because of “irregularities and illegalities”. He did not, however, spell these out.
Cut to 2017 and this is what he had to say on February 14: “We have looked at the issue afresh and reached the conclusion that no violation happened.” Also dismissing earlier allegations that the facility Ramdev meant to build was an encroachment, Singh said, “The part of the land where the yoga guru proposes to invest is barren. What’s wrong if the state gets some investment that benefits Himachal Pradesh and its people?”
The CM was also curiously at pains to remind people of his regard for the yoga guru, recalling that he had hosted Ramdev’s yoga camp in Hamirpur at “personal expense” and “also attended it”. Singh now claims that he wasn’t “briefed about the actual facts regarding the issue”. It has to be noted here that the Himachal Pradesh High Court, in 2013, had ordered a status quo on the land on Patanjali’s petition, days after the state government had repossessed the holding.
Singh, the prime accused in a disproportionate assets case being investigated by the CBI, may just have raised more questions by reviving the yoga guru’s land lease. However, the Himachal government has been circumspect enough to demand that Patanjali withdraw all litigation before the Sadhupul land is actually handed back.