Demanding the resignation of Chief Minister M.L. Khattar, Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda has cast doubt over the “intentions” of the Haryana government.
“It was either intentional or inexperience, there can be no other reason to explain the sheer breakdown of administration. One feels there is absolutely no government in seat in Haryana,” the former Chief Minister of the State told The Hindu on Saturday
Between “intention” and “inexperience”, Mr. Hooda blamed “intentions” more for Friday’s mayhem. “Their intentions are not honourable. It is part of ‘vote bank’ politics,” he said.
This is the third massive public protest under the vigil of Mr. Khattar. In the first one in November 2014, within months into the government, it took 20,000 security personnel to arrest self-styled guru Rampal from Hisar. Five women and an 18-month-old child were killed in the siege. Last year’s Jat agitation saw a similar death toll and loss of ₹34,000 crore worth of property.
“After the Jat Andolan, they had appointed the Prakash Singh Committee, which studied the lapses. The committee had indicted an SP, a DIG, the Home Secretary and even the Chief Minister’s Office. Where is the report today? No one knows,” Mr. Hooda said.
No lessons learnt
The government, Mr. Hooda said, did not learn any lessons from its own “misadventure” during the Jat agitation.
The Union government and the BJP, meanwhile, gave a clean chit to the Khattar government, appreciating the administration for reportedly bringing in order within hours. “The BJP can go on giving clean chit for themselves, [but the] people of Haryana have lost confidence in them and will not give them a clean chit now,” he said.
“If they [BJP] believe that they have done an excellent job in handling the recent tension and also in the last three years, they should go in for fresh elections and the voters shall deliver the verdict,” he added.
