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Coal scam digger has had humble beginnings

Four times BJP MP from Chandrapur, Hansraj Ahir, surprised the nation by unearthing the massive plundering of nation's wealth by the chosen few of the previous government through allotment of coal blocks.

Over his political career spanning more than two and half decades, Ahir also acquired a habit of bringing down the ministers in the elections, whether in his own constituency Chandrapur or distant Kanpur in UP. Ahir defeated environment and guardian minister Sanjay Deotale by more than 2.86 lakh votes. The impact of Ahir's expose of coal scam was such that he was flown to Kanpur to campaign against Congress's former coal minister Shriprakash Jaiswal who eventually lost to Dr Murli Manohar Joshi by more than 2.22 lakh votes. In fact, a rookie Ahir had defeated the then Union finance minister of Congress Shantaram Potdukhe in 1996 general elections.

Ahir's indomitable spirit saw him return as a winning candidate in 2004 against Congress's Naresh Kumar Puglia after losing twice against him. The Gawli MP went on to trounce Puglia twice in the next two elections (2004, 2009). This year, Ahir equalled the record of Potdukhe who had been elected MP from Chandrapur for four times. Ahir's name would reverberate in the hearts of many in the prime minister's office and coal ministry of the erstwhile Congress government for a long time for having relentlessly exposed the massive scam in coal allotment schemes.

A humble start as a member of a local pro-rightist outfit 'Bhavani Sena' did not stop 59-year-old Ahir from climbing the political ladder of success. Ahir's initiation into politics was under Dadaji Deshkar, a lawyer and avid social worker. He also started working with the Jan Sangh in the city where present RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's family also resided. Way back in 1980, Ahir's first official post was as city president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). In 1986, Ahir's effort saw setting up of the first party office in Chandrapur. In 1998, he was chairman for MHADA in Nagpur division too.

In 1992, Ahir was elected as councillor for Chandrapur municipal council. According to people close to the MP, the major breakthrough in his career came when the party nominated him as member of legislative council in 1994. The real credit of Ahir, who could only study till SSC, lies in the fact that he is first in his family to take to politics. The family, originally hailing from Nanded, had migrated to Chandrapur in 60s after Ahir's father Gangaram was transferred here. Gangaram was posted in the health department dealing with outbreak of filaria.

Fourth among seven siblings, many in Chandrapur still remembers seeing Ahir delivering milk in the early 80s when he also owned a tea stall. Ahir is still learnt to be a part of the family business though his time is being mostly spent in political and social work. A close aide, on the condition of anonymity, stated that behind Ahir's dynamic lifestyle lies in his food habit. "After getting up, Ahir would drink butter milk. He believes it takes care of acidity and other digestive issues that help a man focus on hard work. Ahir also believes in taking light 'chiwda' while travelling. At home he prefers plain vegetarian food," said the aide. He added that Ahir was a Krishna devotee.

An old companion Vijay Raut stated Ahir's steady rise in politics could be attributed to his relentless hard work and public relations. "Ahir fought at every level to come to a platform where he is now. He has seen politics at different levels starting from grassroots. The best thing is that he has not forgotten those days," said Raut.

Ahir himself feels he may have done a lot but also has much to do. "My dream is to ensure this country's natural wealth returns to the motherland and its loot by private hands stops," he said referring to his fight for exposing coal block scam. Ahir asserted the country needed revenue generation and employment creation and those would be his two most important goals as a MP. "The raw material and natural resource thefts are rampant. This has to stop. We are also too prone to start thinking about export too quickly rather than developing country-based processing units that can generate employment here," he said.

Source: The Times of India