Virendra Kukreja is the standing committee chairman in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation. He is a first-time corporator yet was given the top post by the BJP. He was president of the Sindhi Bharatiya Sindhu Sabha’s state unit but resigned after becoming the standing committee chairman. A builder, Kukreja is also the founder secretary of Samruddhi Sarvajnik Charitable Trust that runs the Jhulelal Institute of Technology.TOI spoke to him on the problems faced by Sindhis who came here after partition, the recent help provided by the government and what next. Excerpts from an interview ...Q. What problems has the Sindhi community faced since partition?A. Nothing but injustice. After partition, we shifted here on the assurances given by Mahatma Gandhi. We were told to leave behind all properties. Many settled in Rajasthan and other states. Around 30 lakh people are in Maharashtra of which 5 lakh are in Vidarbha, including around 60,000 in the city. We were given abandoned servant colonies and horse yards to stay. We were not given ownership of the land due to which we did not get loans, government facilities, documents for official purposes etc. There were no basic amenities in our colonies for decades. We were supposed to get ownership of land free of cost as against whatever we had left behind in Pakistan. But we were asked to pay ready reckoner value of lands for ownership. Only few of us got lease of land paying ready reckoner value between 1994 and ’99 that too in an improper manner.Q. What is the current situation?A. People are now well settled. Members started with small businesses, got into trading and even found self-employment between 1970 and 2005. After solving problems of bread and butter, people started the fight for ownership of their lands. CM Devendra Fadnavis and union minister Nitin Gadkari have started to distribute ownership titles for last few months. Now, the young generation is looking for jobs in government sectors and eyeing administrative services due to the continuous awareness spread about education in the community. People are expanding in remaining sectors too.Q. Why are there so few in politics?A. Sindhis are well connected with RSS since many years. In fact, RSS supported the community a lot. Two members are given membership in the RSS national body. Also, three of the ten founders of Jan Sangh were Sindhis. Therefore, 90% from the community are connected with BJP. For the last few years, people are taking interest in mainstream politics and joining political parties.Q. What is the next challenge?A. The Indus Valley Civilization of the community is the oldest in the World. Now, our plan is to revive our history. I have proposed to develop the nation’s first Sindhu Art Gallery in North Nagpur that will showcase Indus Valley Civilization. We are doing continuous promotion of Indus Valley Civilization among the community especially among the new generation. Awareness about the community’s culture, tradition and history is imparted in educational institutions set up by our members.Q. Any new projects?A. We are taking efforts to revive our lost folk dance — cheja. We plan to distribute materials require to perform this dance. We have organized nation’s first Chej Mahotsav in city at Mankapur stadium on February 9 and 10. People from across the nation will participate in it. We also planned a youth summit the dates for which will be declared soon. We are trying to showcase Chej at whatever platforms we are getting. There are few more such projects in the pipeline and will be revealed soon.

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