Khanduri who was once ‘Zaroori’ (necessary) for BJP, no more
Khanduri who was once ‘Zaroori’ (necessary) for BJP, no more
S.M.A. KAZMI
Dehradun, May 19
Maj. Gen. Bhuvan Chander Khanduri (retd), a senior ruling BJP leader, who had been twice Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and also a former Union Minister died, here today due to prolonged age-related illness. He was 92.
Carrying an image of a tough administrator with a non-nonsense approach and disciplined army background, Khanduri had earned accolades for his remarkable work as a Union minister of State for Surface Transport in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
However, since the rise of Modi-Shah dispensation in BJP, Khanduri who was not from the RSS was sidelined. After 2019, he confined himself to his home. He was unwell for past sometime.
Accredited with spearheading the flagship Golden Quadrilateral highway project of the Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the NDA regime, Khanduri during his first stint as Chief Minister Minister of Uttarakhand (2007-2009) earned more brickbats than bouquets and was dumped by his own party. However, a never say die approach and the compulsion of his party to again project people with relatively cleaner image again brought him back to power. Apart from party compulsion, it was shrewd politics by the former army general, who had learnt his political lessons after his fall, led to his comeback in 2011. But his luck ditched him soon after his second elevation as Chief Minister, as he lost his assembly election in 2012 which was fought on the plank of “ Khanduri Hai Zaroori” ( Khanduri in necessary). The BJP lost the power to Congress by a single seat.
Hailing from an illustrious and rich Brahmin family of Pauri Garhwal, Bhuvan Chander Khanduri was born at Dehradun on October 1, 1934. His father Jai Ballabh Khanduri was a businessman and mother Durga Devi, a social worker. His grandfather Ghananand Khandrui was a rich man who had done a lot for the spread of education in Garhwal and other philanthropic activities.
He also hailed from the first political family of Garhwal region as former Uttara Pradesh Chief Minister Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna was his maternal uncle.
He did his schooling from Dehradun and later studied at Allahabd University before joining the Indian Army as an engineer. He served the Corp of Engineers from 1954 till 1990, commanding a regiment in the Indo-Pak war of 1971 in the western front. He held various prestigious positions before retiring as a Major General in 1990.
At the height of mandal and masjid politics, Khanduri decided to join politics after retirement and preferred Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that has been vigorously following an aggressive Hindutva agenda and no worthwhile leader in Garhwal region. He was first amongst the breed of former army generals who decided to jump into the political arena in the country.
During the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, he was given party ticket from his home constituency of Pauri Garhwal. But there was big problem at hand that could have stalled his political career even before it could start. At that point of time his first cousin, Vijay Bahuguna, son of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna who was a judge at Mumbai High court also decided to quit his job to enter the politics. Vijay Bahuguna decided to join Congress and was also in the fray to get Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha ticket from rival Congress. It was a tough decision for Khanduri but he decided that if his cousin gets the Congress party nomination, he would not contest against him. But as luck would have it, Vijay Bahuguna could not get the party nomination from Pauri Garhwal and Khanduri entered the Lok Sabha easily riding on the Ram Mandir wave sweeping the hills.
The former army general received his first political set back when he lost the 1996 Lok Sabha election to Satpal Maharaj. But again in 1998 Lok Sabha elections, he was elected but could not make it to Atal bihari Vajpayee led NDA government in the first go. He again got elected to the 13th Lok Sabha in the 1999 polls and remained on various committees of the Parliament. He was inducted into the union ministry as Minister of surface and road transport with independent charge.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bhari Vajpayee made him responsible for initiating his dream project of ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ project linking four major cities of the country and North-South and East-West corridors comprising national highways connecting four extreme points of the country.
Being an army engineer, Khanduri could successfully initiate the project which proved to be the high points of the NDA regime in turn making him a darling of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. While, NDA lost power in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Khanduri was again re-elected.
During the second assembly elections in 2007, Khanduri was one of the chief campaigner for BJP and was chosen by his party leadership to head the BJP government. He resigned his Lok Sabha seat to enter the state politics.
But, the changeover from national politics to the roller coaster ride of state politics proved too much. He took over the regime from veteran Congress Chief Minister N.D.Tewari who was known for his large-heartedness and a policy of laisefaire with politicians as well as bureaucrats. Tewari ran his government most of the time from the confines of his bed room but as Khanduri tried to instill discipline in the rank and file of his government as well as party, he was instantly branded as a “villan”.
After taking over in March 2007, in order to have fiscal discipline, he jokingly said that he would a “miser” Chief Minister. But being a miser turned out to be his political misery. He stopped extravagant spendings and tried to bring in financial accountability annoying an entire vested group of bureaucrats, politicians and contractors who were in the habit of enjoying the “fruits” of the new state under the Tewari leadership.
His decision to probe more than 56 alleged scandals committed by the previous Congress government with an aim to punish the politicians as well as the bureaucrats responsible had a large number of influential people turn against him. Interestingly, the previous N.D. Tiwari regime allocated a lot of developmental works even without budgetary sanctions particularly roads- the lifeline of people in the hill state.
Khanduri who came with a vision to accelerate the pace of development in the backward hilly state was soon branded as a negative person and even a ‘killjoy’ by his own party colleagues.
He tried to impose discipline, even admonishing his legislators to be punctual and to seek prior appointment in meeting him, his moves greatly annoyed a large number of people.
Khanduri was a soldier, statesman above narrow considerations of caste, creed and religion. Despite being in BJP and winning his first election riding on Ram Mandir wave, he was not a ‘Hindutva’ zealot. After becoming Chief Minister in 2007, he suspended District Education Officer of his native Pauri district on the recommendations of his party leaders. The person in question was a Muslim upright officer and a Sanskri scholar hailing from Gorakhpur. The party leaders charged him with hand in glove with Congress education Minister Narender Singh Bhandari, who belonged to Pauri district.
The suspended Muslim Sanskrit scholar met me and requested that there is not a single penny of corruption in his case and he has been made a scapegoat since the outgoing Education Minister also hailed from Pauri. He assured him to take up his matter if I get a chance. One day, in a one- on-one chat, I asked Khanduri about the case and requested him to look into it since the person in question was going to retire in a few months’ time and did not want to go as a disgraced person. I forget the issue but after few months, I received a call from Khanduri telling me that he had conducted an inquiry and the person has been found be innocent and reinstated.
However, his rivals in his own party led by former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari launched a campaign against him and even took a delegation of BJP legislators to party high command to complain against the “army style” functioning of Khanduri in August 2008.
His IAS secretary, Parbhat Kumar Sarangi, considered close to him also came in for sharp criticism for his alleged “deals”.
But with more than six months in the saddle, Khanduri has only proven that he is indeed a ‘miser’ as far as spending from state exchequer was concerned. The state government during his initial six months regime could spend only 17 per cent of the annual budget reflecting on the various developmental schemes in the state. Out of a total annual budget of Rs.4788 crore for the year 2007-08, the state government departments could spend only Rs.795 till September 30, 2007.
With the change of regime from Congress to BJP in the state and the effort of Chief Minister Khanduri to probe scandals and a tight financial control, most of the developmental works come to standstill. With two commissions headed by former high court judges already formed to probe alleged scandals, officials were afraid and unwilling to stick their neck out in taking any intiative. The contractors the main link between the government and the execution of the developmental works in the hill state are not financially sound and are now starved of the funds and have stopped their works.
Khanduri, the administrator, was bogged down by Khanduri-the politician. Coming from national political scene to the state, Khanduri, in the beginning has been trying hard to consolidate his position politically even at the expense of developmental works.
Soon after taking over, besides facing inner party dissidence from former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari who was also state party chief, Khanduri has to win over the support of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) for majority in the state assembly. Soon he had to work hard to win the deferred Bazpur assembly segment poll.
His next test was to enter the state assembly. Playing well, he won over Lt. Gen. T.P.S. Rawat (retd), a former Congress minister who resigned his Dhumakot assembly seat for him. After winning the Dhumakot assembly seat comfortably, Chief Minister Khanduri ensured that Lt. Gen. T.P. S. Rawat (retd) enter the Lok Sabha from his own Pauri Lok sabha seat in seat bye-election.
But his opposition grew within the party as his detractors claim that Khanduri has lost way in his own home state. However, the people of the state particularly from Garhwal region from where he belonged had high hopes from him, the first Garhwali leader after his maternal uncle Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna.
But unmindful of his detractors, Khanduri came up with several electoral victories in the bye-elections. But the results of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls in which BJP lost all the five Lok Sabha seats from Utarakhand to rival Congress, provided an excellent opportunity to his political rivals to unseat him.
Khanduri is also straight forward up to the point of being brash had also earned enemies in the high command. After a sustained campaign led by Koshiyari, party high command decided to dump Khanduri despite having the support of majority of the party legislators.
However, the experiment to instal Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank as Chief Minister replacing him did not go down well with people. With third assembly elections fast approaching in 2012, Khanduri was again brought back to steer the party.
Maj. Gen. Bhuvan Chander Khanduri (retd) is related to veteran leader from Garhwal and former Uttar Pradesh Chief minister and central minister Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna. Bahuguna was his maternal uncle.
Born on October 1, 1934, he joined BJP after his retirement. In 1991 Lok Sabha polls, Khanduri was given the party ticket to contest Lok Sabha election from Pauri Garhwal constituency but he refused to contest since his cousin Vijay Bahuguna, was supposed to be opposing him as Congress candidate. But at the eleventh hour, Congress decided to field, Satpal Maharaj and Khanduri defeated him to enter Lok Sabha.
In 1996, parliamentary elections, he lost to Satpal Maharaj but was re-elected in 1998 and 1999 elections becoming the Chief whip of the party. He was inducted as a Union Minister of State with independent charge of surface transport and highways and elevated to cabinet in 2003. In 2004 he was again elected from Pauri Garhwal to the Lok Sabha.
A favourite of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Khanduri was made the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power after the 2007 assembly elections. However, unlike his smooth tenure at the centre, he started facing hurdles from his own partymen from very beginning during his first stint as Chief Minister. It was former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari who along with party legislators revolted against Khanduri. The party legislators revolted against his style of functioning while the results of Lok Sabha elections in 2009 in which BJP lost all five seats, finally resulted in Khanduris’ removal.
Luck again smiled on the former army general B.C.Khanduri who headed the Uttarakhand government for the second time after BJP high command decided to replace Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in 2011.
Maj. Gen. Bhuvan Chander Khanduri (retd) was the second leader from Garhwal after his maternal uncle Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna to reach the top post of a state, that too for a second time. Together with grit and determination, it was sheer luck that brought, the former army engineer to the forefront of politics.
With assembly elections fast approaching, a desperate Khanduri launched a military style campaign to oust Nishank. It was Lt. Gen. T.P.S.Rawat (retd) , a close confident of Khanduri who had left the BJP to form Uttarakhand Raksha Manch, to be a rallying point for the ex-servicemen, who form a large population in the state and had been backing the BJP for the past more than two decades.
On September 4, 2011 Khanduri supporters within the party at a function held under the banner of a social organization gave a call to revolt from the party to lead a third front in the state. Khanduri also assured them that he would take an appropriate decision at an appropriate time. The threat worked well and the BJP high command was forced to replace Nishank. But the luck was short lived as BJP lost the assembly polls and Khanduri too lost his Kotdwar seat in the crucial contest. He again won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Pauri Garhwal. After 2019, he has decided to take break from active politics.
He is survived by wife, Daughter Ritu Khanduri who is Speaker of Uttarakhand assembly and son Manish Khanduri. Manish Khanduri had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on Congress ticket but was defeated. Later, he also joined his sister into BJP.
