Shimla (Rural) MLA to develop it as hub of organic farming

Kuldeep Chauhan

At 28, Vikramaditya Singh, a Congress legislature from the Shimla rural constituency, is the youngest legislator in Himachal’s Vidhan Sabha, which has 68 members. 

His feudal and a royal political legacy, and his convent education do not make him a natural choice as a “people’s man”. Vikramaditya was born in the powerful royal family of erstwhile Rampur Bushair state. The present scion of the family is his father, Virbhadra Singh, the six-time Chief Minister of the state and a name which is synonymous with the history of the Congress rule in Himachal Pradesh. His mother, Pratibha Singh, was the Lok Sabha MP from Mandi and, therefore, politics runs deep in his DNA, says an analyst. 

Vikramadiya inherited his father’s “style and substance of functioning” — how to connect with the masses and maintain good relations within the party. As it turned out to be, it was not a cake walk for Vikramaditya in the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections from Shimla (Rural), as claimed by his admirers on the social media during the election campaign.

Virbhadra Singh nurtured his son in politics when he ruled the state and held sway within the Congress. He carried out various development works worth Rs 1,350 crore in Shimla (Rural) for the last five years of his regime to launch the political career of his son.  He opened two degree colleges, three ITIs and started a Rs-105 crore irrigation scheme that won the hearts and minds of the people in 45 gram panchayats of the Shimla (Rural). Now, farmers are growing vegetables and get good prices in Shimla markets. 

However, his two major projects, the multi-sports stadium near the Ghanatiand Jathia Devi housing project in the segment could not take off.

Despite the fact that development touched new heights in Shimla (Rural), Vikramaditya, however, had to face a tough fight from the BJP’s Dr Pramod Sharma, who once used to be Virbhadra’s blue-eyed boy, when he was in the Congress.  But Vikramaditya won and became the youngest legislator in the present Vidhan Sabha. 

Vikramaditya wants to turn Shimla (Rural) into a hub of organic farming, learning from the success story of Sikkim. “We visited Sikkim recently and learnt how it has done it. I want to replicate the organic model in Shimla (Rural) on a pilot basis; markets are available in Shimla and Chandigarh,” he says.

Most of the panchayts are linked by roads. But there are areas where the road projects are stuck due to lack of forest clearance. “I took up the matter in MLAs’ priority meeting with the Chief Minister, suggesting that the state Forest Department must be empowered to provide such clearances,” says he. 

Vikramadiya has joined the political narrative in Himachal after the Congress is facing a “generational shift” in its leadership, as Virbhadra Singh has hanged his boots. Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first Prime Minister, and his father, Virbhadra Singh, are his role models.