Amit Shah attacks former Haryana CMs over regional bias, says Khattar curbed corruption, lawlessness

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on October 27 accused previous Haryana Chief Ministers of favouring their own regions and said in Manohar Lal Khattar, the State has after a long time got a Chief Minister who is undertaking its all-round development.

The Manohar Lal Khattar Government has curbed corruption and lawlessness in Haryana, Mr. Shah added.

He alleged that the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress Government was marked by corruption and also hit out at the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) regime led by Om Prakash Chautala, without taking his name.

Mr. Shah said, “Remember Haryana eight years before. When one government was formed, corruption used to be rampant and during another government’s time ‘goondaism’ [hooliganism] used to rise.

“But the Khattar Government did not allow corruption and ended ‘goondaism’.” Addressing a Jan Utthan rally, Mr. Shah said the Khattar Government had worked to change Haryana during its eight years and added that a long time after Independence, the State had got a Chief Minister who worked for its all-round development.

“Earlier, Chief Ministers either used to be of Sirsa or Rohtak, they were not of Haryana. But Khattar is the Chief Minister of the entire Haryana,” he said.

Former Chief Minister and INLD President O.P. Chautala belongs to Sirsa, while Mr. Hooda is from Rohtak.

Sharpening his attack on Mr. Hooda, Mr. Shah said “When Hooda’s 3-D government was in power… One sees 3D film, but in the entire country, only Hooda showed a 3D government.

“In this, there were the ‘darbaris’ [courtiers], ‘damaad’ [referring to Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra] and ‘dealers’. Later, a BJP Government which undertook development was formed in its place.” The Home Minister also praised Mr. Khattar for being a “true gentleman” and said when the BJP won majority in the 2014 polls in Haryana, Mr. Shah, as BJP chief, asked Mr. Khattar to be the Chief Minister. Mr. Khattar, however, gave him a list of 15 names of leaders who could be the Chief Minister instead of him.

While the BJP achieved a simple majority on its own in Haryana for the first time in 2014, it fell short in 2019 and formed a government in alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Shah laid the foundation stone of the Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor and inaugurated three other projects worth ₹6,629 crore.

The Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor project will come up for an estimated cost of ₹5,618 crore . Mr. Shah also inaugurated a rail coach refurbishment factory worth ₹590 crore in Sonipat’s Barhi and India’s first longest elevated railway track in Rohtak, built at a cost of ₹315.40 crore.

The Home Minister also inaugurated the Haryana Police Housing Complex, Bhondsi, constructed at a cost of ₹106 crore.

Mr. Khattar, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Union Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of State for Power and Heavy Industries and Faridabad MP Krishan Pal Gurjar, and BJP’s state unit chief OP Dhankar were present at the event.

Calling the projects a Diwali gift for Haryana from Prime Minister Narendra, Mr. Shah said the high-speed Vande Bharat train would be built at the Sonipat factory.

Mr. Shah said the works of the Khattar Government gave him confidence that the scales were tilted in favour of this regime vis-a-vis previous Haryana Governments, adding, “a ‘jodi’ of Modiji and Manoharji made Haryana number one”.

He said the State Government had reset the system it inherited and stopped corruption, checked favouritism and took the Centre’s schemes to the poor.

Targeting the previous Congress Government, Mr. Shah said there used to be a “big transfer industry” that had been stopped by the Khattar regime.

In eight years, Haryana gave 98,000 government jobs without accepting a single penny as bribe, he said.

Heaping praise on the Modi Government at the Centre for India overtaking the U.K. to become the world’s fifth-largest economy, Mr. Shah said the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime had elevated the Indian economy to 11th position.

“Sonia-Manmohan kept it at 11th position and in 2014 Modiji came and between 2014 and 2022, the country’s economic position reached fifth spot in the world,” he said.

Highlighting the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign launched by Mr. Modi from Panipat in 2015, Mr. Shah said Haryana’s sex ratio had improved from 817 to 913.

“A State which cannot protect its daughters cannot protect anyone,” he said.

He also listed several achievements of Haryana, telling the gathering that the state was now second in terms of foodgrain and dairy production.

“In eight years, a big change took place [in the State],” he said.

Around 1.60 lakh new industrial units were set up, he said, adding that Haryana was third in MSME ranking and the only State that bought 14 crops at minimum support price.

There are 400 Fortune 500 companies with operations in Haryana and the government has developed Gurugram into the biggest industrial hub, he said.

Mr. Shah also paid tribute to party stalwart BJP stalwart Mangal Sein and remembered 16th century devotional poet Surdas known for his works in praise of Lord Krishna.