Haryana Burnt Thrice In Past Five Years Under BJP Rule: Dushyant Chautala

Jannayak Janata Party leader Dushyant Chautala in Rohtak on Sunday slammed the Haryana government for the "poor" law and order situation, claiming that people were ready to oust the BJP from power.

"Haryana burnt thrice in the past five years under their rule," Chautala said in an apparent reference to the violence suffered by the state during the episodes linked with self-styled godman Rampal, Jat agitation and the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. 

"80 people died during these incidents," he said while addressing a 'Jan Samman Divas' rally to mark the birth anniversary of the late party ideologue Devi Lal.

He claimed people wanted a change and their party offered the only alternative. 

"The JJP is the only viable alternative. Your vote will decide the future of Haryana," he said, stressing that the Congress was a divided house.

"When tickets are announced, these Congress people will once again fight amongst themselves," he said.

Vowing to expose the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government, he said unemployment, farmers' plight and law and order were key poll issues.

"The BJP has money and media power, but we have party workers' power and we will expose them before the public," he said.

On BJP's "Mission 75", Dushyant said if the BJP was dreaming to replicate the clean sweep of the Lok Sabha polls, then they were mistaken. Reminding the BJP of the 1987 elections when a government led by party ideologue Devi Lal was came into power, Chutala said the Congress had lost the elections despite registering a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha polls after former prime minister Indira Gandhi's assassination.      

He, however, backed the scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir but said the time had come to reclaim Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. On the amended Motor Vehicles Act, he said if their party came to power, they would not implement it.

He alleged that while the Centre was unable to effectively handle the economic slowdown, it seemed that they were trying to fill coffers by heavily penalising the motorists.

"After the amendments came into force, so many instances have come to fore where motorists have been slapped with heavy challans," he said, adding that these were not mere challans but "another form of tax" imposed by the Modi government to burden the common man. 

"If the BJP has its way, the day may not be far away when people walking on foot will be challaned for wearing slippers," he said.

The JJP leader also made a slew of promises if his party was voted to power.  He promised to increase the old-age pension to Rs 5,100, free treatment to the poor in government hospitals for life-threatening diseases, shifting of liquor vends outside village limits, 75 per cent reservation in the private sector for the youth from Haryana besides a wage hike for government employees and panchayat members.

Speaking on the occasion, JJP leader and Dushyant's mother Naina Chautala said every section was fed up with BJP's "misgovernance" and people were waiting for the polls to oust them. 

The JJP was formed nearly a year ago after a split in the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) following a fued in the Chautala family.

Efforts by former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and the Khap panchayat or caste council failed to re-unite the Chautala clan. 

The INLD will also organise a 'Samman Divas' rally to mark the birth anniversary of Devi Lal at Kaithal on September 25.