In the 11 years that it has been in power, Haryana’s BJP-led government has neither procured any major project from the Centre, nor did the Union government hand over any development projects to the state, says Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Haryana chief minister and senior Congress leader.
The former two-time CM has no qualms calling the current “double-engine” government a “complete failure”.
In stark contrast, he says, the previous Congress governments in Haryana improved various sectors – including health, education, agriculture and power. His government worked for the Dalits, backward communities and women, he claims.
Going on to enlist the projects undertaken during his party’s time in power, the former CM says “historic work was done in the health sector as it had built one new health university, six new medical colleges (Karnal, Mewat, Khanpur, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, Faridabad), 10 super-specialty institutes approved in AIIMS-2 and one National Cancer Institute in Badhsa”.
The BJP, he points out, was not only unable to build a new medical college or university, it cancelled all the super-specialty institutes that the Congress government had given the green light to. “There is no progress in the construction of AIIMS (Manethi),” he alleges.
When it comes to the education sector, Hooda said his government had built a central university at Mahendragarh, 12 new government universities, 154 new polytechnic colleges, 56 new ITI, four new government engineering colleges and the Rajiv Gandhi Education Society in Sonipat. Besides these, he reminds everyone, the foundation stone of the Indian National Defence University was laid in Gurgaon, 2,623 new schools built, one new Sainik School built in Rewari and six new Kendriya Vidyalayas were constructed. These generated more than a lakh jobs in the education department, he adds, apart from more than 2 lakh jobs given to people between 2005 and 2014.
“Even today, 38,000 teacher posts are lying vacant in the education department,” he asserts.
Investment in the private sector too was prioritised by the Congress, says Hooda. “We made a policy to end the practice of contracting. Foreign companies came to Haryana and thousands of jobs were generated.”
The current high rate of unemployment, says the septuagenarian, has forced Haryana’s youth to take to illegal ways to immigrate abroad for work opportunities.
Compared with big industry names such as Maruti, Asian Paints, NTPC, Reliance, Honda, IOC, Panasonic, Yokohama, and Denso that were established in Haryana back in the day by the Congress government, Hooda says the BJP has been unable to establish a single MIT in the entirety of its tenure.
“Due to increasing crime, an atmosphere of terror was created in the industry, and small and big industries migrated from here. The state now leads the country in unemployment, crime, drug addiction, migration, corruption,” he says.
The power and agricultural sectors in Haryana are the worst-hit, says Hooda. From five power plants and one nuclear plant-approval and establishment during the Congress’ power, there has been no progress whatsoever.
“Crop loan was provided to farmers at zero interest. The MSP of wheat was increased by 126 per cent, MSP of paddy by 143 per cent. Sugarcane price was increased from ₹117 to 310 (per quintal), the highest in the country then,” he says, adding that the Congress government started MGNREGA’s employment guarantee scheme in the state and also gave away 100-yard plots for free to four lakh poverty-struck families.
“In contrast, the biggest farmers’ movement (against the now repealed central farm laws) in history happened during the BJP government’s tenure in which 750 farmers died. Still, they did nothing on MSP guarantee, nor did they deliver on their promise of doubling farmers’ incomes. This government did not even waive off electricity bill or loan of a single farmer,” says Hooda.
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