Unfazed by ridicule, this MP continues to cycle to Parliament

‘Some say I do it for publicity, while others call it a gimmick. But these questions don’t trouble me,’ says Arjun Ram Meghwal, a two-time Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament from Bikaner. Upasna Pandey reports

Many watched with amusement as Arjun Ram Meghwal, a two-time Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament from Bikaner, rode a bicycle to attend the Budget session.    

Meghwal, who is over 60 years old, has been receiving mixed reactions for his novel effort from party colleagues and parliamentarians. But he remains unfazed and continues to cycle from his bungalow everyday to the Parliament and back.

Meghwal, who had wanted to cycle to Parliament during his first stint as MP, could not do so as he wasn’t given the necessary security permission to do so. But this time around he has a go ahead from the Parliament’s joint committee on security to change his ride from the usual four-wheeler to a cycle.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed to all state environment ministers at a function in Vigyan Bhawan in April to reduce carbon emission by cycling one day every week. That inspired me. I requested for an approval from the Parliament and have been cycling to the House since the session began on April 20,” says Meghwal.

He says there are two roundabouts -- one outside his bungalow, opposite Le Meridian hotel, and one near the Parliament House -- where he faces difficulty cycling.

“Some people ask me why I do this when it can become a security issue, while some say it is a gimmick and others call it at attempt to get publicity. But these questions don’t trouble me,” he says.

On his first day to the Parliament, Meghwal punctured his tyre. His driver, who was following him, offered to take him to the Parliament in his car. Meghwal turned down the offer and opted to walk instead. “Since that day there is no car following me and my assistants walk to Parliament with my files,” he says.

“We are representatives of the public, so we should look like them. I have decided that I will cycle for public connect in the walled area of Bikaner city, when I go back to my constituency,” says the MP.

Meghwal’s colourful Rajasthani ‘safa’ (headgear) too has been drawing a lot of comments from his colleagues. “Some say I should stop wearing a ‘safa’ as I look illiterate, but over the years people know I am literate and I continue to wear it,” he says.

Speaking on the famers’ issue, Meghwal, who is BJP’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, insists that the central government and his own state, Rajasthan, are taking all necessary steps to support farmers.

He insists that Rajasthan farmer Gajendra Singh, who committed suicide during an Aam Aadmi Party rally in Delhi recently, was provoked by onlookers. “The probe will prove it. Gajendra was known as the desert king, so there is no reason he would kill himself,” he says.

“The central and state governments have taken initiatives for farmers in terms of payment of compensation for crop failure. But we have to tackle the issue of shortage of irrigated land. There is a need to utilise drip irrigation methods more,” says Meghwal.

He dismisses that farmers are upset with the government, saying, “I don’t think the farmers feel alienated with the government.”