Abhay Chautala, Digvijay trade barbs on Meham, Kandela violence

Deepender Deswal & Anil Kakkar

Hostilities between two factions of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal’s family seemed to further increase with INLD leader Abhay Chautala and his nephew JJP leader Digvijay Chautala trading barbs on the violence in Meham and Kandela villages during the Om Prakash Chautala regime decades ago.

While Chautala’s grandson Digvijay Chautala, who is a JJP candidate from the Dabwali segment, has accused his uncle Abhay Chautala of tarnishing the image of Chautala family while referring to past incidents like the infamous “Meham Kand” of 1990. “You should not forget the person who from the Devi Lal family had tarnished the image of the family. In the Meham violence of 1990 and later during the INLD regime in 2002, there was one person who harassed people by snatching vehicles or taking away kothi. You should remember this,” he said. Digvijay apparently cast aspersions on Abhay regarding the violence. The Meham byelection in 1990 was marred by violence after Meham Chaubisi khap panchayat fielded Anand Singh Dangi as Independent to take on then CM Om Prakash Chautala. Firstly, an Independent candidate, Amir Singh, who was said to be close to the Chautalas was found dead before the byelection. Dangi was blamed for murder and the police tried to arrest him which again led to clashes as three persons were killed on May 17, 1990.

Violence also occurred during the re-polling on February 28, 1990, resulting in the death of a cop and six villagers. The incident forced CM Chautala to resign from his post. The ‘Meham mayhem’ which echoed at the national level.

However, Abhay sought to turn the heat on his brother Ajay Singh Chautala (Digvijay’s father) and alleged, “The then Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala has assigned the responsibility to his father (referring to Ajay) to talk to the agitated farmers in Kandela village in 2002. If there was any incident of atrocity on farmers by the police, it was due to the fault of his father (Digvijay’s father),” he alleged. Notably, the Kandela episode had roots in the promise of OP Chautala who promised to waive the pending power bills as a pre-poll promise in 2000. Farmers in Kandela village started agitation in 2002 alleging the Chautala government of not fulfiling his promise. During the agitation, violent confrontation took place between farmers and police leading to the death of nine farmers.