Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday said the Haryana government has not kept its promise of withdrawing all the cases filed against farmers during their movement against the now-repealed agri laws.
This is the reason why farmers have once again decided to take to the streets, the Leader of Opposition in Haryana said."Several months have passed, but the government has not kept its promise. The government of flip-flops is running Haryana, which repeatedly breaks its promises," the Congress leader said at Gohana in Sonipat.
"The government is deliberately forcing the farmers to come on the streets again and again," he said. Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni had on Thursday threatened that the farmers would block the GT Road in the state on November 24 if the state government does not take back all the cases registered against farmers during the stir.
Earlier, Haryana Home minister Anil Vij had said most of the cases registered by the state police have been withdrawn and the process is underway to drop the rest of them. Hooda said the demand of the farmers is completely justified.
"All the cases registered against them should be withdrawn immediately. If the present government does not do this, then this decision will be taken when the Congress government is formed in the state after next elections.
"Along with this, farmers who sacrificed their lives during the movement against farm laws will be given martyr status and their families will be given financial help and a government job," the former chief minister said.
The Haryana government is yet to fix state approved price (SAP) for sugarcane for the year 2022-23 even as crushing operations are set to start, he said. He demanded that the price of sugarcane in the state should be at least Rs 400 per quintal as against Rs 362 at present.
"The input cost of the farmer is increasing continuously and now even petroleum products are being made from the residue of sugarcane," he added. Hooda said the BJP-led government in the state has been hit by many scams.
"Many scams like liquor, land registry, electricity metre, paddy and wheat scams have come to the fore in the state. But even till date, in no case has the government taken action against the person holding a high position and they are trying to bury the issue by taking action on lower-rung officials.
"The report of the SIT which is formed to investigate the scams never sees the light of the day," he stated. "The present government has made Haryana number-one in corruption, unemployment and crime. During the previous Congress regime, Haryana was number one in terms of per capita income, per capita investment, employment generation, prosperity of farmers...," he said.
Hooda claimed that Haryana has the highest unemployment rate of 31.8 per cent in the country. "Due to the government's lopsided policies, the medical students of the state are also forced to take to the streets. I had also met the students protesting against the medical fee hike and bond policy at Rohtak PGIMS hospital.
"The Congress will raise this issue in the Vidhan Sabha as this decision of the government will deprive the children of poor and middle class families from medical education," he said. The Supreme Court itself has said that education cannot be commercialized," he said.
(With PTI Inputs)
