Anil Vij stirs buzz by removing ‘minister’ tag from social media

Cabinet Minister Anil Vij triggered curiosity on Wednesday after dropping the word “minister” from his bio on social media platform X. The BJP veteran, however, clarified that he did not require such “tags” for popularity.

The Energy, Labour and Transport Minister changed his bio from “Anil Vij Minister Haryana, India” to “Anil Vij Ambala Cantt Haryana, India”.

Speaking to The Tribune, Vij said: “I don’t want to grow my viewership and followers as a minister. My followers on X were growing way faster when I did not have the minister tag. Vij, by itself, is a tag now. I don’t need any other tags.” He added that he had dropped the minister tag from his Facebook account nearly a year ago, though it had gone unnoticed. He currently has 8.8 lakh followers on X.

Party insiders linked the move to a “fake letter” that recently circulated, claiming the appointment of one of Vij’s detractors as a BJP national spokesperson. Though top leaders later clarified the letter was fake, sources said Vij remained unconvinced and “disappointed” at being “ignored and overlooked.”

Known for his blunt remarks, Vij has often expressed displeasure with both government and party functioning. Just last week, he accused certain local leaders of running a “parallel BJP” in Ambala Cantonment and sought suggestions from his followers, claiming the “party is suffering a lot of damage.”

Vij is no stranger to controversy on social media. Last year, he briefly removed the “Modi Ka Parivar” tagline from his bio, only to restore it later.

Inducted into CM Nayab Singh Saini’s Cabinet in October last year, Vij had earlier stepped down as minister in March 2024 when Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar. Since then, his ties with the CM and the state BJP have remained uneasy.

Post-elections, Vij alleged that “some officials and party leaders” tried to defeat him and lamented that no action was taken against them. He even threatened a fast if development works in his constituency were ignored, directly targeting the CM.

In an unprecedented step, the BJP had served him a notice for “breach of party discipline” over remarks against CM Saini and state party chief Mohan Lal Badoli. While Vij replied, insiders say the matter was later “closed” after he met senior central leaders.