Haryana Assembly plunged into chaos on Tuesday when the Congress tried to corner the Manohar lal Khattar Government over the accusations of Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik and Karnal dalit atrocity incident.
The trouble began during the zero hour when Congress MlA Karan Dalal sought reply from the Government on wrestler Sakshi Malik’s accusations that she has yet not received the incentives promised by the BJP Government after her historic Rio Games victory.
lashing out at the BJP led State Government for not fulfilling its promises made to the Olympics medal winner, Congress legislator Karan Dalal said that it is really shameful as the Government has made a mockery of the entire issue instead of honouring the daughter of Haryana who brought laurels to the nation as well as the State.
Hitting back at Karan Dalal, the Sports Minister Anil Vij said, the Congress leader has no understanding about the issue.
Even as the Sports Minister Vij was replying to opposition’s allegations, former Speaker and Congress legislator Kuldeep Sharma levelled another allegation against the BJP Government saying that the Government has failed to protect the dalits in the State.
“Dalits in a village of Karnal were forced to leave their homes, due to threat to their lives after a dispute with people from upper community,” alleged the former Speaker.
His statement triggered angry reactions from the treachery benches, who were on their feet and levelled counter allegations.
The ruling legislators hit out at the Congress for pointing fingers at BJP over the issue of atrocities against dalits, saying that state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, who is a dalit leader was attacked by your own party leaders, who are now booked under SC/ST Act. At the same time, they reminded Congress of Mirchpur incident where two dalits were burnt alive in an inter-caste violence in 2010.
After a volley of allegations between the BJP and Congress, Chief Minister Manohar lal intervened, and informed the House that the Government is trying to resolve Karnal’s incident amicably and if required, action would be taken as per the registration of FIR.
The issue, however, witnessed heated arguments between the treasury and opposition benches for about an hour as Speaker Kanwar Pal’s repeated attempts failed to pacify the situation.
The BJP MlAs also took strong exception to the statement of former Speaker Kuldeep Sharma when he reminded Anil Vij that he used to pull Vij out of the House by his ears.
The treasury benches then demanded that a resolution condemning the former Speaker should be passed in the Assembly.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma asked Kuldeep Sharma to apologise for his statement otherwise the House will bring a resolution to condemn him.
Defending himself, the Congress legislator alleged that the Health Minister also gave a derogatory statement, when Vij spoke of sending others to Agra’s mental hospital for treatment.
As the pandemonium continued, Anil Vij stood up and urged the Speaker to send Kuldeep Sharma out of the House, as Sharma had several times thrown many members out of the State Assembly during previous Congress regime.
Soon after, leader of opposition and INlD’s senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala also demanded an action against the former Speaker for wasting the time of the House and for using offensive language in the State Assembly.
Angrily retorting, Kuldeep Sharma, said that people who never respected the House should not speak like Jesus Christ.
The former Speaker later took back his harsh words but stood by the statement that he used to throw Vij out of the House during Congress regime.
Haryana CM directs to amicably resolve Karnal incident
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Tuesday informed the House that Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Krishan Kumar Bedi and MlA Bhagwan Dass Kabirpanthi have been rushed to village Sagga in Karnal to pacify the members of both the communities and ease tension which occurred following an altercation over the issue of riding a horse chariot.
While replying to the questions of opposition on the issue of dalit families leaving their homes in village Sagga after the incident, the Chief Minister said that the State Government is making efforts to normalise the situation in the village.
He said that as per the information, the villagers had unanimously decided to do away with the ritual of riding a horse chariot in the village. But when the members belonging to the Scheduled Castes wanted to perform the ritual, they were stopped by members of another community (Rajput), which made the situation tense.
The ritual was, however, performed in the presence of police, but it was opposed by members of another community and they resorted to pelting of stones, which caused injuries to some police personnel and several others.
Following this incident, the police registered a case and another case was registered under the SC/ST Act. However, the community which had earlier opposed the ritual later apologised for its actions.
Whenever such incidents opposing the members of the Scheduled Castes occur, politics begins and even, people of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh get involved and others are also provoked, said the Chief Minister.
He said that earlier, both groups agreed to sort out the issue, but as per information received, while some members agreed to sort it out, there were some others who wanted action to be taken as per the cases registered by the police.
The Government is trying to restore normalcy and resolve this issue. But in case it’s not resolved, further action would be taken as per the FIR lodged in this case. The Deputy Commissioner, Karnal had also constituted a committee to resolve the issue, he added.
Govt. fulfilled its promises made to Sakshi Malik: Anil Vij
Responding to the allegations of the Congress, Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anil Vij said that the State Government has not broken any promise and all facilities and award have been provided, as per the rules, to wrestler Sakshi Malik, who won the bronze medal at Rio Olympics.
The Ministersaid that the Chief Minister Manohar lal gave her a cheque for `2.5 crore, the day she landed in India after the Olympics event.
As per her demand, the post of Director, Sports had been created at Maharishi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak. All formalities for her recruitment would be completed in meeting to be held this month. Also, the Government had released `75 lakh to the Deputy Commissioner, Rohtak, for installing air conditioning system in the hall where she was practicing, said Vij.
About the reward to be given to Malik’s coach, the Sports Minister said that while the Government did not have any provision for reward for coach, on her request, the State Government had asked her to give name of one coach for giving him the reward. She mentioned names of two coaches in first affidavit and three in the second. Apart from this, some other person also claimed to be her coach, he added.
On giving her a Government plot, Vij said that Sakshi should have applied to Haryana Urban Development Authority to get a plot which she did not do.
Targeting the Congress, the Minister said that the present State Government has also given away the award money of Asian Games and other competitions held during the tenure of the Congress Government.