At odds with police last term, activist-minister now their boss

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 15

After his stint as the state’s Health Minister, Home Minister Anil Vij is all set to train his guns on the Haryana Police and give it a people-friendly makeover.

His reputation as “activist-minister” seems to have preceded him as the cops seem apprehensive about what to expect in the coming days since Vij is better known for conducting surprise checks and acting against shirkers.

The six-time MLA, often referred to as “Gabbar Singh”, minced no words in admitting that this activism would be carried forward into this term as well.

After he assumed office and well-wishers poured in to congratulate him, there were many who reminded him of his “past relationship” with the police department and it was very evident that he, too, had not forgotten any bit of detail.

Just six months into government, in July 2015, Vij, the then Health Minister, had stoked a controversy by claiming that he had caught a CID officer ‘spying’ on him. Though the department clarified that such personnel were deployed as per the standard procedure to keep an eye on people visiting ministers, the logic cut no ice with Vij.

Later that year, Vij had a spat with IPS officer Sangeeta Kalia, the then superintendent of police, Fatehabad. The minister had then stormed out of the District Grievances and Public Relations Committee meeting after the officer had refused to follow his order to leave the venue following heated exchanges between the two. Vij was upset at Kalia’s response of allegedly shouting at a complainant who had approached him with a complaint.

Again, in 2018, Kalia chose to stay away from the meeting of the grievance committee for Panipat chaired by Vij. Following this, he complained to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and she was moved out of Panipat.

In his new role, Vij, however, said that there was no reason for anybody to fear him. “Nobody needs to be scared of me. All they need to do is work.” On a day that Haryana DGP Manoj Yadava called on him, he said that changing the perception of the police in the eyes of the public would be a priority.