The BJP-JJP Government in Haryana did not have any difficulty on the floor test on Wednesday, comfortably defeating the no-confidence motion moved against it by the main opposition Congress. The motion was defeated following division of votes.
At the end of a marathon six-hour discussion on the motion, Speaker Gian Chand Gupta announced in the House that 55 members had voted against the motion while 32 legislators had backed it.
In place of secret voting, which former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had earlier demanded in the House, the Speaker first asked the members favouring the motion to rise from their seats and those against it were asked to stand. A headcount was done later. The 55 members who voted against the motion included 39 from the BJP, 10 of ally Jannayak Janta Party, five Independents and Gopal Kanda from Haryana Lokhit Party.
The BJP has 40 members in the Assembly which includes the Speaker.
Thirty members of the Congress and two Independents - Balraj Kundu and Sombir Sangwan - who had earlier withdrawn support, backed the motion. The opposition camp would have needed 45 members to win the no confidence motion.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, currently having an effective strength of 88 members, the ruling BJP has 40 members, the JJP 10 and the Congress 30. Seven are Independents, five of whom are supporting the government, while one member is of the Haryana Lokhit Party.
While the ruling BJP-JJP was batting on a comfortable wicket with numbers on their side, moving the motion, the first no-trust vote which 16-month old Khattar government faced, Leader of Opposition Hooda claimed the ruling dispensation has lost people’s trust. He also said it would expose those who were claiming to stand in favour of farmers if they vote against the motion.
Referring to farmers protesting near Delhi’s borders against the Centre’s new farm laws for more than 100 days, Chief Minister Khattar reached out to opposition telling them that they should stop instigating the peasants and instead come forward and tell farmers to end their agitation.
Deputy Chief Minister and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala sought to assure that the government will protect the interests of farmers. He said mandis and MSP will continue, notwithstanding opposition’s misleading claims.
After the end of the Question Hour, the Speaker admitted the notice of no-confidence motion against the Council of Ministers and reserved two-hour for discussion on it. However, later with many members speaking on it, the discussion went on for six hours.
Earlier, touching upon the issue of farmers who are protesting against the Centre’s new farm laws, Hooda said the situation is such that ruling dispensation MLAs cannot even visit their constituencies. “This government has lost the confidence of people. Their MLAs cannot go in their constituencies,” he said. On the farmers’ issue, Hooda demanded inclusion of nearly 250 farmers, who have died during their ongoing agitation, in the obituary references of the Haryana Assembly.
The Leader of Opposition claimed it was the BJP-JJP government which stopped farmers, used water cannons and even dug roads so that they could not march towards Delhi in November. “The government should know it cannot break farmers by such tactics,” he said. Hooda said farmers and their family members including women, children are sitting at the protest sites on Delhi Haryana borders and their sons are serving the nation at the border.
Lashing out at BJP leaders, senior Congress leaders alleged: “Some leaders say only Punjab farmers are protesting against agri-laws; Khalistani, Pakistani, Chinese agenda behind farmers’ agitation…..” He said farmers from several states including Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are sitting on various border points of Delhi.
He said that the state government has “lost” trust of people alleging that prices of fertilizer and pesticides, diesel have increased multiple times but the Government has failed to increase the income of farmers. He alleged that this government has failed in all fronts and unemployment rate is the highest in the State.
KADIAN ASKS JJP LEADER NAINA CHAUTALA TO RISE LIKE “JHANSI KI RANI” FOR FARMERS’ CAUSE
Senior Congress leader Raghuvir Singh Kadian said this no-confidence motion will make it clear who stands with farmers and who is against them. “Entry boards have been put up outside villages banning entry of BJP and JJP leaders while Khap Panchayats have given social boycott calls. Never before in history has it happened before that the chief minister and deputy CM’s helicopters are not being allowed to land in villages,” said Kadian. “Farmers are sitting on borders, but the government is not inviting them for talks,” he alleged. Kadian said MLAs of JJP, which had fought the 2019 assembly polls against the BJP before forging alliance with the saffron party, should look into their inner conscience and support the no-confidence motion. Pointing towards JJP MLA Naina Chautala, who is also mother of Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Kadian asked her to rise like “Jhansi ki Rani” for farmers’ cause and support the no-confidence motion. “Chaudhary Devi Lal dedicated his entire life for farmers’ cause. The JJP leaders should look in their inner conscience before voting,” he said, adding that the Deputy CM should withdraw support from the government and stand with farmers.
CONG LEADERS MISLEADING FARMERS, SAY BJP AND JJP LEADERS
Education and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar hit out at the Opposition, saying they were misleading farmers and doing politics in their name.
He gave details of several steps which have been taken by the Government for the welfare of farmers. JJP senior leader Ishwar Singh said the Government has taken several steps for welfare of farmers and brought many schemes for them. He said adequate arrangements are made by the Government to ensure smooth procurement of farmers’ crops. Taking a dig at Congress leaders, he said they were portraying themselves as if they were the only sympathisers of farmers. Ishwar Singh’s speech was frequently interrupted by Congress members who asked him to make his stand clear whether he stood in support of farmers or was against them. Independent MLA Nayan Pal Rawat, who is supporting the Government, hit out at the Congress, alleging “everyone knows that in the name of Change of Land Use the land of farmers was snatched. They looted farmers with both hands. It is Narendra Modi and Manohar Lal Khattar who took steps for peasants welfare and in this context these farm laws were brought.”