Chandigarh, Aug 27 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Thursday invoked the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and a string of violent incidents during previous Congress and INLD governments to hit out at the opposition during a debate on the state’s law and order situation.
Speaking in the state Assembly, Saini said those questioning the law and order situation in Haryana today should first look at the crime figures and incidents recorded during their own tenures.
Saini was replying to a Calling Attention Motion on law and order moved by INLD MLAs Aditya Devi Lal and Arjun Chautala in the Vidhan Sabha.
The Congress members staged a walkout from the House while Saini was replying to the notice. They walked out after the Speaker suspended eight Congress MLAs for the remainder of the day’s session for unruly behaviour that disrupted proceedings.
Saini said the BJP government was pursuing a zero-tolerance policy on law and order and that the strictest action was being taken against anyone violating the law.
He said a sensitive issue such as law and order must certainly be debated, but the discussion should be based on facts and not on political convenience or “misleading propaganda”.
The chief minister said the opposition should remember the state of law and order during its own tenure and how the system had deteriorated at that time.
Referring to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Saini targeted the Congress, saying that even recalling that period sends shivers down one’s spine.
People had tyres placed around their necks and were burnt alive, while others were set ablaze at public squares, he said. Such atrocities were committed that many people were forced to cut their hair to save their lives, Saini said, adding that thousands of people were targeted.
He said the Congress had never apologised for the 1984 riots and alleged that today a person associated with that period was being described as a role model.
“This is unfortunate and amounts to rubbing salt into the old wounds of the victims,” he said.
The chief minister said that during Congress rule in Haryana, there was no democracy but a “rule-tantra”.
The manner in which the system collapsed during Congress rule left every section of society distressed, he said.
Taking a dig at the INLD, Saini said it was no secret how the rule of law in Haryana had weakened under political influence and pressure between 1999 and 2005.
Referring to the Kandela incident of May 2002, he asked who had ordered firing on farmers in which some lost their lives and several others were injured.
He asked those who claimed to champion farmers’ interests today whether farmers’ demands during their tenure were addressed through dialogue or bullets.
During the same period, five Dalit youths were beaten to death by a mob near a police post at Dulina in Jhajjar, he said.
Saini also targeted both the INLD and Congress, saying that earlier, lists for government jobs were prepared in political households, whereas selections were now made on merit.
The government, he said, had restored the self-respect of Haryana’s youth.
Saini said the INLD had forgotten its own tenure, when even FIRs were not registered and people lived in an atmosphere of fear.
He said when the Congress came to power in 2005, people expected the system to change, but crime instead assumed an even more disturbing form.
In August 2005, houses belonging to Dalit families in Gohana’s Valmiki settlement were set ablaze, forcing people to flee their homes, belongings and lifelong savings.
Saini asked those who spoke about Dalit welfare today where their sensitivity and commitment to social justice were when an entire Dalit settlement was burning.
He also referred to the February 2007 bomb blasts on the Samjhauta Express near Diwana railway station in Panipat, saying 68 innocent people lost their lives and several passengers were injured.
In January 2008, an international kidney racket was exposed in Gurugram, he said.
Saini questioned how the illegal trade in the organs of poor people was allowed to flourish in Gurugram, which the then government projected as one of its achievements, and why the administration remained inactive for so long.
He further referred to the April 21, 2010 attack on a Dalit settlement in Mirchpur village of Hisar, saying houses were set ablaze and a 70-year-old man and his daughter, who had a disability, were burnt alive.
Hundreds of Dalit families were forced to leave the village, he said, adding that the matter became so serious that the trial had to be transferred from Haryana to Delhi. PTI SUN NB NB
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