Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who set out on State-wide “Jan Kranti Yatra” from Hodal in Haryana’s Palwal district on Sunday, said that bhaichara (communal harmony), badlaav (change in political dispensation) and khushhali (prosperity) were the three objectives of his ‘rath yatra’ across all 90 Assembly constituencies of the state.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Hooda said the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Haryana had made 154 promises in its manifesto but failed to fulfil even one in its tenure of more than three years.
‘Debt-trap’
“Caught in a debt-trap, farmers in the State are on the verge of ruin. The business community is not making any profits and the employees are out on the streets up in arms against the government. Unemployment is on the rise, with more than 50,000 people on contract jobs having lost their livelihood in the past three years. The law and order situation is deteriorating, with women not feeling safe even inside their homes,” said Mr. Hooda.
Our schemes for the welfare of the Dalits, including distribution of freehold plots and financial help to construct houses, were discontinued by the present government, said Mr. Hooda, adding that the government did not even keep its promise to give ₹9,000 monthly allowance to the unemployed.
Recuperating from an ankle fracture that happened at a public meeting earlier this month, Mr. Hooda said the BJP rode to power making false promises to the people but the party now stands exposed.
‘Lost faith’
“The people of Haryana have lost their faith in the State government,” asserted Mr. Hooda.
‘Irregularities’
Tearing into Manohar Lal Khattar government’s claims of corruption-free governance and slogan of ‘Haryana Ek, Haryanvi Ek’, Mr. Hooda said even the Supreme Court had pulled up Haryana government on irregularities in granting mining lease and a fraud was committed in procurement of pulses for ‘Dal-Roti scheme’ initiated by his government.
“The BJP government has disturbed communal harmony in the State over the past three years and pushed it towards anarchy. The Prakash Singh committee had indicted the bureaucrats and the Chief Minister’s Office for violence during the Jat reservation agitation but the report was brushed under the carpet. They did not learn from the episode and repeated the mistakes in Panchkula during the [Dera chief Gurmeet] Ram Rahim episode,” he said.
Farmer woes
On farmers’ agitations across the country, Mr. Hooda, who enjoys support among farming community in and around Haryana, said farmers today were unable to even recover input costs and were left with no choice but to protest.
“While input costs have increased several folds for farmers, they are not fetching even half of the price for their produce compared to what they were getting during Congress rule. There were not taxes on fertilisers and pesticides during our rule. Now the government has imposed 5% tax on fertilisers, 18% on pesticides and agricultural equipment,” said Mr. Hooda.
The United Progressive Alliance government had waived farm loans to the tune of ₹72,000 crore and had also waived loans worth several hundred crores in Haryana, he added.
Rubbishing claims by the Narendra Modi government regarding doubling income of farmers by 2022 as a “political gimmick”, the former Chief Minister said the formula to calculate input cost must include all factors and farmers should get 50% profit on the input cost.
“The farmers were forced to sell potatoes for as low as 9 paisa per kg in Kurukshetra last year. Does doubling their income means they will get 18 paisa per kg in 2022?” Mr. Hooda said.
Denying speculation of floating a political party in the run-up to the elections, Mr. Hooda said he was a dedicated Congress worker. Refraining from making a direct comment on demands by his supporters to appoint him as the State party president, Mr. Hooda said there was urgent need to rebuild the party in the State with less than a year to go for the elections.
“There are no block and district Congress committees in Haryana. The party needs to be straightened at the ground level or it will have an adverse impact on its electoral prospects,” said Mr. Hooda.
