An otherwise mellowed and sober Shivraj Singh Chouhan has bared his sterner side in his fourth term in power, especially after an emphatic win in the recent Madhya Pradesh assembly bypolls where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party grabbed 19 seats and Congress party could clinch only nine.
The chief minister can be seen exuding greater conviction and assertion on governance issues primarily when it comes to punishing those who breach the norms.
To start with, Chouhan was always known to take a secular path contrary to the inclinations of the BJP’s parental body, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), but things are different now.
The CM is seen toeing the Hindutva line more often than not, which was visible in his speeches where he openly spoke against ‘love jihad’. “Will not allow ‘love jihad’ in MP,” he said in a rally in Umaria district. Soon after that state home minister Narottam Mishra got prepared the draft bill Freedom of Religion 2020, provisioning a five-year jail term for those who engage in forced conversion and marriages and those who help them.
The jail term was later hiked to ten years and Chouhan has proposed tabling of the bill in the upcoming winter session of the assembly.
When it comes to law and order issues, especially on crimes against women, ‘Mama’ Shivraj has been strict against offenders and those accused. Among prominent names, Pyare Miyan, a newspaper owner based from Bhopal faced stringent action including dismantling of his illegal properties in the city.
