Sampat Singh criticises BJP's Seva Sankalp Abhiyaan, alleges misuse of state machinery
INLD patron Sampat Singh on Sunday criticised the BJP's Seva Sankalp Abhiyaan, alleging misuse of state machinery and public funds.
Indian National Lok Dal patron and former minister Sampat Singh on Sunday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party's month-long "Seva Sankalp Abhiyaan", describing it as a campaign of self-glorification carried out at the expense of the public exchequer, state machinery and the dignity of citizens.
Addressing a press conference in Gurugram, Mr. Singh said substantive governance was increasingly being replaced by theatrical pageantry that mocks democratic norms. He said the rollout of the month-long celebrations offered a clear example of this trend.
According to Mr. Singh, administrative machinery across multiple states and districts — from district collectors and police departments to municipal bodies and government departments — was diverted from its constitutional duties to organise a centralised personality cult.
He alleged that official circulars to schools required teachers and children to hold large deepotsav programmes, forcing classrooms to burn hundreds of lamps under administrative pressure. This, he said, amounted to both a moral and a financial corruption.
Mr. Singh further alleged that public funds, drawn from the taxes paid by ordinary citizens, were spent on multi-city rallies, large cutouts and multi-crore media campaigns.
He said the contradiction was sharper when set against the government's own messaging. While the Prime Minister has urged citizens to conserve resources and cut oil consumption by 10% in the national interest, he said, the state-sponsored lamp-burning drive consumed precious oil on an industrial scale — resources that could instead ease the cost-of-living burden on households.
Mr. Singh said this unfolded amid severe economic distress and rising prices. He also alleged that the government had imposed a regressive 0.4% tax on UPI transactions above ₹2,000 under pressure from the United States, and warned that geopolitical challenges such as the Hormuz and Red Sea crises could disrupt supply chains and deepen economic difficulties for India.