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Former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the BJP government’s attitude during the recent Assembly session was completely anti-people and evasive of public interest issues. He said the government paid no attention to the opposition’s questions, resolutions and issues of public concern throughout the session.

 

He said the Congress had submitted various proposals for discussion on important issues such as the status of Chandigarh, mining in the Aravalli hills, farmers’ problems, unemployed youth, recruitment scams, MSP, the paddy scam, MNREGA, corruption, education, health, deaths of sportspersons, the SYL water dispute and hate speeches by BJP leaders.

 

However, for the first time in the history of the Assembly, not a single adjournment motion, motion for suspension of business or short-duration discussion motion moved by the Congress was accepted.

 

Hooda said the desperation within the BJP is clearly visible after the serious revelations of ‘vote chori’, which is why the BJP deliberately brought a proposal for discussion on electoral reforms in the Assembly to divert attention from this issue. “However, this does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Assembly. That is why the Congress staged a walkout from the House. The Congress will bring a special resolution on ‘vote chori’ in the next session,” he said.

 

Addressing a press conference at his residence, Hooda said the Congress government paid special attention to sports and sportspersons when it was in power. “Haryana’s standing went up throughout the country because of our sports policy, but the current government has ruined it. The Congress had built more than 300 stadiums, but now they are in a dilapidated condition,” he said.

 

“Two promising young players from the state, Hardik and Aman, died tragically, which was a result of government negligence. We brought a motion for discussion on this, but the government did not even deem it appropriate to respond,” he added.

 

Hooda pointed out that the Congress had also submitted a short-duration discussion motion on the Aravalli issue, but the government evaded that as well. 

 

“The Forest Survey of India report clearly states that the destruction of the Aravalli range will have the greatest impact on Haryana. This will lead to increased pollution and the destruction of these hills, which act as the "lungs" of Haryana,” he said.

 

He questioned the Haryana government’s stance on the issue. “Why did the government not defend the matter in the Supreme Court, and why is it not filing a review petition now? The government has not given any satisfactory answer to this either,” he said.

 

Similarly, the Congress's adjournment motions were on waterlogging, rising pollution, the paddy scam, and MNREGA. He said the situation with MNREGA is so bad that while 800,000 people are registered, only 2,100 people have received the full 100 days of employment. “Looking at the record of the last 5 years, no compensation has been paid to any worker under the MNREGA rules, even though it is mandated,” he stated. 

 

Talking about drug-related deaths in Haryana, he said the figure for Haryana is even higher than in Punjab. “Corruption is rampant. Our colleagues had prepared thoroughly on education and health issues, but there was no discussion on these topics. There was also no response regarding the hate speeches by BJP ministers and MLAs,” he said.

 

“The Congress asked the government to clarify the status of Chandigarh as because we read in the newspapers every day that the status of Chandigarh is changing. The Congress demanded clarification – is Chandigarh the capital of Haryana or not? The previous Speaker had said that a decision had been made to acquire separate land and build a new assembly building, but now there are reports that the Home Ministry has rejected this. If Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana, then who can stop us from acquiring our own land,” he asked.

 

Hooda said that the Haryana government's stand on the SYL canal issue should also be clear. “The Supreme Court order came in 2002, which is final. When Punjab terminated the agreement, in 2004 (when I was an MP), we initiated a Presidential reference. The decision came in 2016,” he said. 

 

“After that, the then Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar called an all-party meeting, which I also attended. In the meeting, it was decided that we would meet the President and the Prime Minister. The Chief Minister took the responsibility of arranging a meeting with the PM, but the meeting has not happened to this day,” he added.

 

“The government discussed Vande Mataram in the House. We asked what the purpose of this was? Vande Mataram is the national song, which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly in 1950. Can you change it? Similarly, they raised the issue of electoral reforms, which is not even within the domain of the Haryana Legislative Assembly. Parliament, the Legislative Assembly, and the presidential and vice-presidential elections are under the constitutional body of the Election Commission; this cannot be discussed here. The BJP is doing all this to hide its failures,” he stated.

 

“Because they are unable to protect the interests of Haryana, they are now saying they are ready to discuss the SIR issue. We have never opposed the SIR, but we want reforms. For example, elections should be held using ballot papers, or the VVPAT slip should be given to the voter so that they know where their vote went. There should be reforms from EVMs to VVPATs,” he stated. 

 

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