Fatehabad,
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today accused incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of doing precious little to continue welfare schemes started by the previous Congress government headed by him for the Dalits and the poor.

Hooda addressed a ‘Dalit Panchayat’ organised by the Congress faction owing allegiance to him on Constitution Day here. He also accused the BJP government of not fulfilling any of the 154 promises the party made to the people of the state before the Assembly elections.

Today was also the birth anniversary of Hooda’s late father Chaudhary Ranbir Singh, who was a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee.

Hooda said demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the present form had hit the poor and Dalits the most. “Lakhs of people across the country have been rendered jobless and thousands of manufacturing units have been shut. Imports from China have gone considerably up. Against 9.2 lakh jobs to the Dalits in 2013 in the country, merely 8,000 were provided to them in 2016,” he added.

Hooda alleged that atrocities on Dalits have also risen during the BJP regime while the budget for Dalits has been reduced from 21 per cent to 15 per cent. “My government initiated the Dal-Roti scheme in the state under which Dal for Rs 20 per kg, wheat for Rs 2 per kg and Bajra for Rs 1 per kg were supplied to the poor so that their children could get necessary protein and other nutrients. The BJP government did not even spare the poor and stopped the supply of Dal instead of taking action against those involved in siphoning off money, as reported in newspapers, ” he said.

He said his government had distributed 3.92 lakh plots of 100 yards each to poor people and also given them grants for construction of houses, but the present government has not given even one plot.

On the absence of several Cabinet ministers from the International Gita Mahotsav that President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated in Kurukshetra yesterday, Hooda said the Chief Minister, as his wont, could accuse me for it.

Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda said the Constitution is aimed at ensuring equality, brotherhood and independence among citizens, but under the BJP government all these were in peril.

Former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera and Congress MLAs from the Dalit community Udai Bhan, Geeta Bhukkal, Shakuntala Khattak and Jaibir Balmiki organised the rally.