The Tribune Interview: ‘Bhupinder Hooda anti-Dalit, can’t see beyond son’

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 6

Lashing out at the Congress over its “dynastic politics”, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has said Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda is overlooking claims of senior party leaders to project his son, Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda, as the CM face in Haryana.

Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, also the former CM, hand-held me right through my political career...he is my Guru and the Opposition, essentially the Congress, is right about that. We in BJP are not a father-son team.

In a freewheeling interview to The Tribune on the show #DecodeHaryana, Saini dared the Congress to name an OBC leader as the CM face. “Hooda is anti-Dalit and he can’t see beyond his son. What he did to Ashok Tanwar (a Dalit leader of the Congress who sought refuge in the BJP), he will repeat with Sirsa MP Kumari Selja. There are no posters of the two leaders together and they haven’t shared the stage. Selja won on her own account. Hooda did not not once campaign for her in the Lok Sabha elections,” the Chief Minister said.

Taking a dig at the senior Congress leader for failing to see any leader beyond his son, Saini said Bhupinder Hooda was solely focused on projecting his son as the only leader in the party. “Things have come to such a pass that Hooda had to visit a Congress leader’s house to dissuade him from quitting the Congress. The Congress is a divided house where politics goes from father to son to grandson,” Saini said, adding that the BJP promoted and projected its workers unlike the Congress’ reliance on dynasties.

Between redressing the grievances of the public which starts to arrive at his residence since early morning and holding meetings with delegations calling on him, Saini believes in being available to the public he serves. “Our alliance is with the people of Haryana. We need and have the support of the public. The people are our Gods. I have repeatedly stated that if the officers fail to listen to the public, their CM is always available for them,” he maintained.

Listing out Jat leaders in his party, the CM said Jat leader Birender Singh, who had quit the BJP to return to the Congress, was not even able to get ticket for his son, a former MP with the BJP.

“Hooda wants to finish off the entire Congress leadership in the state. In the BJP, Birender Singh was made a union minister, his son was an MP from Hisar while his wife was an MLA. What more can the party give to him? He still quit the party,. Recently Congress leader Kiran Choudhry joined the BJP because of the trouble Hooda was creating for her,” the CM remarked.

In Haryana’s caste-centric politics, Saini admitted that the elevation of OBCs will be a key instrument of the BJP’s political strategy in the coming Assembly elections, likely in October. Singing peans of praise for Modi, Saini said he gave this honour to OBCs, while the Congress has only exploited them. He asked, “Why shouldn’t the OBCs rally behind the BJP?”

While the Haryana CM untiringly spoke of the many IITs and ITIs, medical colleges and development projects that the BJP rule had ushered into Haryana and often brought up the visionary policies of PM Modi, Saini did not blink an eye as he talked about the “guru-shishya” relationship between himself and his predecessor, Manohar Lal Khattar, now a minister in the Modi government in Delhi.

“Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar, also the former CM, hand-held me right through my political career. He will forever be everything to me. He is my Guru and the Opposition, essentially the Congress, is right about that. We in BJP are not a father-son team. Our leaders come from the workers,” the CM explained.

Terming “honour killings” as an “individual issue”, Saini said the state did not come into this family picture. “If we are not punishing the guilty after a crime is committed, the government is responsible. If that is not the case and an accused is arrested and put behind bars, it is unfair to lay the blame at my doorstep,” he said, adding that Haryana encouraged registration of cases for all crimes. “We have made Haryana a zero FIR state and we will keep our promise to the people to maintain the safety and security of its people,” the CM added.