The Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government has given another job to YouTube singer Jai Bhagwan Mittal alias Rocky Mittal, five months after it removed him from the post of publicity adviser.
Sources said Mittal, a self-proclaimed ‘Narendra Modi Bhakt’, is now being given a job in the state culture affairs department even as his designation has not been fixed yet.
Mittal, who was earlier appointed as publicity adviser (audio-visual) and was tasked to assist the government during the state’s golden jubilee year celebrations, was sacked on January 21.
Though no official reason was given for his removal, the sacking came in the wake of his remarks that large-scale corruption had taken place in the state-level golden jubilee celebration function held at Gurugram on November 1, 2016, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mittal was allotted an office on the eighth floor at the Haryana secretariat and had also been using an official vehicle fitted with a red beacon, a privilege he was not entitled to.
The singer, who came to limelight for his song series ‘Modi Amritwani’ on YouTube, was earlier appointed chief adviser in Haryana Kala Parishad also, but he had declined the offer, saying the post was not according to his standing.
{{/usCountry}}The singer, who came to limelight for his song series ‘Modi Amritwani’ on YouTube, was earlier appointed chief adviser in Haryana Kala Parishad also, but he had declined the offer, saying the post was not according to his standing.
{{/usCountry}}State cultural affairs minister Kavita Jain confirmed that Mittal has been re-appointed.
Regarding his controversial statement, she said Mittal was an artiste and might have made some remarks from his own perspective. “Let the bygones be bygones. The government has decided to take him back as he had worked for the party (BJP),” she said.
Mittal, who belongs to Kaithal district, had gained popularity in the saffron party circles by singing paeans to Modi in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, performing at his political rallies in Gujarat and some other places and distributing free compact discs (CDs) of his songs across the country.