MLA Chintamani Malviya received a show-cause notice by BJP for raising the issue of the government’s land acquisition in Ujjain for the preparations for 2028 Simhastha Kumbh in the Assembly’s Budget Session. File
The Madhya Pradesh BJP has served a show-cause notice to an MLA who, in the Assembly’s Budget Session, had recently raised the issue of the government’s land acquisition in Ujjain for the preparations for 2028 Simhastha Kumbh.
The notice was issued to Chintamani Malviya, MLA from Alot (SC) under Ujjain Lok Sabha constituency, on March 23 by the Madhya Pradesh BJP chief V.D. Sharma. It said that his recent acts and public criticism of the government were damaging to the party’s image.
Mr. Malviya had on March 18 objected to the permanent acquisition of farmers’ lands in the area where Simhastha Kumbh Mela is organised.
“First of all, I thank the Chief Minister that he has kept ₹2,000 crore for Ujjain Simhastha… But today the farmers of Ujjain are very scared, worried because earlier their land was acquired in the name of Simhastha only for 3-6 months but today they have been given a notice of permanent acquisition,” he said.
Mr. Malviya had also slammed the the government’s plans of building permanent ashrams and other infrastructure for Simhastha.
“I don’t know which officer has proposed the idea of building a spiritual city. I want to tell you that spirituality does not reside in any city. It comes from people who renounce everything. We cannot build a spiritual city by building concrete buildings and the main idea of Simhastha is in a tent. Will we build concrete buildings on 4,000 hectares of land?” Mr. Malviya said while raising the suspicion that land mafia was behind the “conspiracy”.
Mr. Malviya’s concerns were also shared by Congress MLA from Ujjain’s Tarana, Mahesh Parmar.
The BJP notice was issued on national president J.P. Nadda’s instruction and sought an answer from Mr. Malviya in seven days. The notice, however, did not specifically mention the Ujjain land issue.
A senior BJP leader told The Hindu that the national leadership had been informed about Mr. Malviya’s remarks and a notice was issued based on directions from New Delhi.
On Monday (March 24, 2025), however, Mr. Malviya dubbed it as the party’s internal matter and said he would respond after receiving the notice formally.
“I am a committed worker of BJP, whatever I said is an internal matter of the House. It is a matter of making the House aware of the public problem,” he told reporters.
Commenting on the matter, Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar said that no farmer should be forced to give up their land.
“He is speaking against the government and you are issuing him a notice. However, the Chief Minister of the State is from Ujjain. The matter concerns farmers’ lands there. Why are you not paying the farmers according to the current guidelines? Why hasn’t the government updated the guidelines? If the farmer wants to voluntarily give land, it should be allowed, but no one should be forced to give up their land,” he said, speaking to reporters.
In October 2024, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had said that the seers would be allowed to build permanent ashrams in Ujjain, on the lines of Haridwar.
He also said that in view of Simhastha, permanent infrastructure would also be built for basic facilities like roads, electricity, drinking water, drainage, among others, and to avoid the problems caused by temporary constructions.
Published – March 24, 2025 10:47 pm IST
