Latest news with #Janu
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Prayers at Jal gurdwara in Satyapal Malik's memory
Jalandhar: Farm groups will be organising a bhog and an antim ardas, or last prayers, in the memory of the late Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik at Gurdwara Shaheedean, Sarmastpur, near Jalandhar on Aug 14. The religious function is being jointly organised by farm and worker groups, as Malik spoke in support of farmers during the farm movement. In July, Sikh and farm groups had organised an Akhand Path at Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, to pray for Malik's health. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Dibdiba, whose grandson Navreet Singh Hundal was killed during the tractor parade in Delhi on Jan 26, 2021, led the Sikh and farm groups in organising the Akhand Path and the ardas. In related news, the Rajasthan unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expelled state spokesperson Krishna Kumar Janu for six years, citing his public criticism of the party's "treatment" of former governor Satya Pal Malik and ex-vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar. According to party officials, the action followed a disciplinary process initiated in June. BJP state disciplinary committee chairperson Onkar Singh Lakhawat said a show-cause notice had been issued to Janu on June 20, seeking an explanation for his comments. The controversy had risen after a purported video of Janu was widely circulated on social media platforms. In the video, Janu is heard criticising senior BJP leaders over what he described as the "humiliating treatment" of Malik, who had served as the governor of several states and was once the party's national vice-president. Malik died earlier this week after a prolonged illness at the age of 79. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
Scroll.in
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Rajasthan BJP leader expelled after criticising ‘treatment' of Jagdeep Dhankar, Satyapal Malik
The Rajasthan unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has expelled its spokesperson Krishan Kumar Janu for six years after he purportedly criticised the party's treatment of former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik and ex-Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, The Hindu reported on Sunday. The expulsion came after a video where Janu is reportedly heard criticising BJP leaders over what he described as the 'humiliating treatment' meted out to Malik and Dhankhar was widely circulated on social media. Janu claimed that he was deeply hurt after witnessing the 'disdain' shown towards Malik and Dhankhar, both of whom belong to the Jat community, the newspaper reported. The former spokesperson also belongs to the same community. However, in a communiqué on Friday, the BJP cited Janu's comments made in June opposing the appointment of Harshini Kulhari as its Jhunjhunu district president as the reason for his expulsion. BJP leader Onkar Singh Lakhawat claimed that the former spokesperson failed to justify his actions in response to a show cause notice issued to him on June 20, and that this proved 'a breach of discipline', The Hindu reported. Contentious remarks Referring to Malik's death on August 5, Janu claimed that the former Jammu and Kashmir governor's last rites were not conducted with state honours. He also said that Dhankhar was not given a farewell after he had resigned as vice president on July 21. Malik died on August 5 after a prolonged illness at the age of 79. The former governor had attracted controversy after claiming that he was offered a bribe to clear files related to two major projects in Jammu and Kashmir. He had also questioned the Union government over issues related to farmers and the 2019 Pulwama terror attack, among others. Dhankar, on the other hand, had submitted his resignation as vice president on July 21 after citing health reasons. The Opposition had claimed that his resignation was 'totally unexpected' and that there seemed to be more to it than what met the eye. Following his expulsion, Janu told The Indian Express that he had a habit of speaking freely and felt that the party was in the wrong, be it the Dhankhar case or with Malik. 'So, I spoke and wrote against this politics of prejudice and vendetta,' the newspaper quoted him as saying. 'If Jats in the BJP can't speak, then what is the point of them staying in the party? What good can they do for the community if they can't speak out?' He added: 'I had asked questions of Jat leaders in the BJP, be it the MPs or MLAs and not the BJP. But my expulsion means that the party needs deaf and dumb people, not the ones who speak up.'
Indian Express
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Rajasthan BJP leader expelled for criticising party over Jagdeep Dhankhar, Satya Pal Malik: Who is Krishan Kumar Janu?
Farmer, journalist, Jat Mahasabha leader, ABVP and VHP leader, BJP candidate and party spokesperson. Krishan Kumar Janu, 55, has donned many hats in his nearly four-decade political career, during most of which he has been associated with the Sangh in various capacities. But it was for the first time on August 8 that Janu – the surname representing his Jat gotra – hit national headlines after the Rajasthan BJP expelled him for six years for targeting the party over its treatment of former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik and ex-Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, both Jats, in a video that went viral. Janu in the video is seen slamming the party's Jat leaders while urging them to speak up. 'I have a habit of speaking freely and I felt that the party was in the wrong, be it the Dhankhar case or with Malik. So, I spoke and wrote against this politics of prejudice and vendetta. If Jats in the BJP can't speak, then what is the point of them staying in the party? What good can they do for the community if they can't speak out? I had asked questions of Jat leaders in the BJP, be it the MPs or MLAs and not the BJP. But my expulsion means that the party needs deaf and dumb people, not the ones who speak up,' Janu told The Indian Express. Terming the move not to accord Dhankhar a farewell as 'shameful', Janu said, 'It is the limit of shamelessness when the party is exacting revenge upon the dead and not giving him (Malik) the Tricolour as a shroud. Our culture says that once you are dead, all the disputes and all the fights are over. You are humiliating someone who has been an MLA, minister, party national vice president and Governor in multiple states. It is the definition of a narrow mindset. It is very sad.' While his comments led him to face the axe from the BJP, Janu's family traces its antecedents to freedom fighter Sardar Harlal Singh, also a Jat leader and the first president of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee in independent India. Unlike most of his family members, Janu chose to follow the Sangh ideology in 1986. He was a full-time member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for about ten years and was its Sangathan Mantri, mostly in the Shekhawati region, as well as in Bikaner. He then rose to the post of seh-mantri at the state level and was a part of the ABVP's National Executive Council for four years. He also ran a departmental store and EYE TV news channel next door in Churu, and also contested as a BJP candidate for Jhunjhunu's Mandawa Assembly seat in 2003, but stood fifth. Janu says that veteran BJP leader Rajendra Rathore was against him ever since his student politics days and opposed him when he got a ticket too. Janu then worked with the Vishva Hindu Parishad for about five years, and was the samrasta seh-prabhari for the Jaipur region – the other two being Jodhpur and Chittorgarh in Rajasthan – where he was tasked with ensuring harmony between castes and communities, including Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). Subsequently, he was relieved by the VHP and sent to the BJP as its political appointee. The BJP first made him a media panellist and then a spokesperson in 2022. 'I would like to thank the party for rewarding me with an expulsion for speaking the truth. If my party is going in the wrong direction, I will continue to question it. As I have experience in the media, I will again join them and put my points across. I will continue to bring out the visangati (inconsistencies) within the party,' he said after his expulsion. Claiming that the BJP will see the consequences of its actions in the panchayat polls later this year, Janu said, 'It is my moral duty to make the party realise that it has made a mistake. There are things which I couldn't speak before as I was bound by party discipline, but now I will give voice to my thoughts,' he said, and questioned why he was being targeted even as leaders of other communities in the BJP were allowed to speak freely. A Jat Mahasabha state secretary, Janu said, 'I have merely made the point of humiliation of Jat community members. If community members from the Vipra (Foundation) are post holders in the party, if (the late) Ramdas Agarwal was BJP's state president, if Karni Sena and Kshatriya Yuvak Sangh leaders also hold posts in the BJP and there are no objections or restrictions on them, the track politics of expelling a Jat community leader from the BJP… they need weak Jat leaders as showpieces. They don't need strong Jat leaders who have a hold on the ground.' 'I have nothing against the party, but vyaktivaad (person-centric) politics. Where is community leadership? If Congress's politics of nepotism is bad, then so is the BJP's person-centric politics. We made a BJP government in 2014 but by 2019, it became the 'Modi government'. A person is not important in the ideology I follow. Guruji K B Hedgewar didn't keep himself first but asked us to follow the param pavitra bhagwa dhwaj (most sacred saffron flag) as the guru, because a person's degeneration can happen anytime,' Janu said. Claiming that BJP state president Madan Rathore recently told him to avoid writing certain things, Janu said, 'He told me that I should discuss it at an appropriate stage, but when there is none in the party, Zuckerberg's platform (Facebook) seems the most appropriate to me. There was a discussion on what I said only after reading my comments on this platform, and I was served a notice only after my comments were read on this platform.' On whether he will join the Congress or the Jat-dominated Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, Janu said that the Congress in his hometown Jhunjhunu is ridden with the Ola family and its politics, and thus has no vacancies. As for the politics of change in the state, he said there are still about four years to go for state polls. 'Till then, I will keep forcing my community members in the party to speak up or push the community for their boycott,' he said.
NDTV
21 hours ago
- Politics
- NDTV
BJP Expels Rajasthan Spokesperson For Criticising Party's 'Treatment' Of Jagdeep Dhankhar
The Rajasthan unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expelled state spokesperson Krishna Kumar Janu for six years, citing his public criticism of the party's "treatment" of former governor Satya Pal Malik and ex-vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar. According to party officials, the action followed a disciplinary process initiated in June. BJP state disciplinary committee chairperson Onkar Singh Lakhawat said a show-cause notice had been issued to Janu on June 20, seeking an explanation for his comments. "He failed to justify his actions, and the committee decided to expel him for six years," Lakhawat said. The controversy had risen after a purported video of Janu was widely circulated on social media platforms. In the video, Janu is heard criticising senior BJP leaders over what he described as the "humiliating treatment" of Malik, who had served as the governor of several states and was once the party's national vice-president. Malik died earlier this week after a prolonged illness at the age of 79. Janu also referred to Dhankhar's exit from the post of vice president, noting that both leaders are from the Jat community. Janu questioned MPs, MLAs, and other office bearers from the community working within the BJP, asking how they could be sure similar treatment would not be meted out to them. "Malik's treatment cannot be justified. What the BJP is doing with mass leaders is very sad," he said in the video. Malik attracted a lot of controversy after alleging that he was offered a bribe to clear files of two major projects in Jammu and Kashmir and questioned the BJP-led central government over issues related to farmers and the Pulwama terror attack, among others. Dhankhar, a former governor of West Bengal before becoming the vice president, is also a prominent political figure from Rajasthan. Following his abrupt exit from the VP post citing health reasons, opposition leaders claimed he was "forced" to resign. Party insiders said Janu's remarks were viewed as damaging to the BJP's image and internal discipline. Lakhawat noted that the disciplinary committee considered the matter seriously, especially as the comments came in the run-up to key political activities in the state. The expulsion underscores the BJP's strict stance on public criticism of its leadership, particularly on issues involving senior figures and former office-bearers.
The Hindu
a day ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Rajasthan BJP spokesperson expelled over controversial remarks
The Rajasthan unit of Bharatiya Janata Party has expelled its spokesperson Krishan Kumar Janu for six years after he questioned the party's stand on former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik and former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Mr. Janu's controversial remarks reportedly caused an unease within the party ranks. However, the BJP cited Mr. Janu's comments made in June this year opposing the appointment of Harshini Kulhari as its Jhunjhunu district president as the reason for his expulsion. BJP State disciplinary committee chairperson Onkar Singh Lakhawat said Mr. Janu had failed to justify his actions in response to a show-cause notice issued on June 20. Breach of discipline: BJP In a communique issued on Friday (August 8, 2025), Mr. Lakhawat said the charge of 'breach of discipline' against Mr. Janu had been proved after his failure to submit a satisfactory explanation. Mr. Janu's expulsion from the BJP's primary membership came shortly after his purported video statement criticising senior BJP leaders was circulated on social media platforms. Mr. Janu condemned the 'humiliating treatment' of Mr. Malik and Mr. Dhankhar, both of whom are Jats, by the BJP's top leadership and said he was deeply hurt on witnessing the 'disdain' shown towards them. He made a reference to not conducting the last rites of Mr. Malik, who died last week, with State honours, and not giving a farewell to Mr. Dhankhar, who had resigned. The former BJP spokesperson said he wished to pose questions to Jats working in the party, be they the MPs, MLAs or other office bearers, as to how they could be sure that similar treatment would not be meted out to them. 'What the BJP is doing with mass leaders is very sad. Though the party is going in the wrong direction through all this, the people are quiet,' Mr. Janu said in the video. 'Leaders now puppets' Mr. Janu said the party's senior leadership was responsible for pushing veteran leaders like L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha, Praveen Togadia, Sanjay Joshi, Vasundhara Raje, and Shivraj Singh Chouhan to the sidelines. 'Leaders who were strong at the grassroots have been turned into puppets,' he said. 'One who compromises with his principles out of fear is not a Jat,' Mr. Janu said, urging the Jat leaders within the BJP to speak out against the wrongs. While the BJP's disciplinary committee considered the matter seriously and viewed Mr. Janu's remarks as damaging to the party's image, the expelled leader reacted sharply and said he would continue to oppose 'whatever is wrong in the party'. 'I congratulate the people who are happy over my expulsion... I will remain steadfast on my path of ideology,' Mr. Janu said.
