A war of words broke out between the ruling and Opposition legislators over the issue of paying tributes to the innocent people who lost their lives during the recent Jat quota stir in Haryana.
While the opposition including INlD and HJC demanded the names of innocent people who died during the Jat agitation should be mentioned in the obituary resolutions instead of writing innocent people, the ruling BJP maintained that an inquiry is still going on to establish the innocent and guilty during the protest.
The Jat protests across Haryana, which crippled road and rail traffic in much of northern India and also caused a water crisis in Delhi, had left 30 people dead and more than 200 injured last month. Properties, business establishments, factories and vehicles belonging to non-Jats were also looted and torched at several places in the State.
Raising the issue during the obituary resolutions, INlD’s Jaswinder Sandhu and Parminder Singh Dhull demanded that tributes should be paid to all who died during Jat agitation and their names should be mentioned in the obituary resolutions. On this, Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu lashed out at the Opposition saying that they should refrain from doing politics on obituary resolutions. The BJP would not let the INlD do politics on corpses. Caste would not decide who is guilty and innocent, he added.
Chief Minister Manohar lal then intervened to pacify the members saying that an inquiry is going on into the Jat agitation and till then we cannot decide who is guilty and innocent. “This is a law and order matter and many innocent also lost their lives during agitation. We cannot give tributes to someone who is a criminal so do not mention names in the obituaries,” he added pointing towards INlD’s Sandhu and HJC’s Kuldeep Bishnoi who had mentioned names of few people who had died during the Jat quota stir.
Meanwhile, the Haryana assembly on Monday paid tributes to several state leaders, freedom fighters and martyrs who lost their lives during the period between its last session and the current budget session. Those who were paid homage in the House included former Speakers of lok Sabha Balram Jakhar and PA Sangma, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Naresh Kumar Sanghi, former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Roshan lal Tiwari. Tributes were also paid to seven freedom fighters and the House also paid homage to 12 martyrs of Haryana who have made supreme sacrifices of their lives while safeguarding and protecting the unity and integrity of the motherland.
The House also paid tributes to those security personnel, who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on Pathankot Air Force Station in the January 2016 and at Pampore in J&K in February 2016.