The second day of the Monsoon Session of the Haryana Assembly saw a lot of uproar over the Nuh violence issue. The Opposition was adamant on discussing the Nuh violence in the House. Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda raised the demand for discussion in the House, but Speaker Gyanchand Gupta refused by citing the matter in the court and that discussing it in the House would be sub-judice.
Earlier, state Home Minister Anil Vij had blamed the Congress for the violence, underlining the notice issued to legislator Mamman Khan as proof. Leader of Opposition Bhupendra Singh Hooda, taking exception to Vij’s remarks, demanded a discussion since the Home Minister had claimed that the Congress was involved. When Vij took the name of Congress, Speaker Gyanchand Gupta said that it would be deleted. Congress MLA Shamsher Singh Gogi questioned the deletion, saying Vij’s statement was public domain through the media. BJP MLA Satyaprakash Jaravata and many MLAs demanded discussion on Nuh violence. MLAs of the ruling party Jaravata and others said that Khan had talked about had made inciting comments in the previous Assembly, so having a discussion was important.
The Opposition also brought up the sexual harassment case against state Minister Sandeep Singh, raising slogans seeking Singh’s resignation as the question hour ended. Speaker Gupta repeatedly said that this matter was pending in the High Court as well and therefore could not be discussed. In response, legislators of the Opposition demanded that Singh tender his resignation, at least on grounds of morality.
Following the session, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar raised concerns over Congress’s silence on Nuh, even after the police were looking into Khan’s involvement. “Surprisingly, Congress is neither condemning their MLAs whose names have been dragged in this issue, nor are they giving any clarification,” CM Khattar said during the press conference. The Chief Minister said not only had one Congress MLA been issued a notice by the police, but fingers are also being pointed at some other MLAs from the party in connection with the Nuh violence incident. “Despite these grave allegations, the Congress party has maintained a silence that is raising eyebrows. The absence of a response from them certainly proves that ‘daal mai kuch kala hai’ (something is suspicious),” said Khattar. He said more than 160 FIRs have been registered and some people with likely connections to the violence are being questioned. Expressing gratitude to the citizens and other social organisations of Nuh for the peaceful conduct of the Shobha Yatra, Sh. Manohar Lal said the government had appealed to the district residents to maintain peace during the Shobha Yatra. “I am thankful to Nuh citizens and the social organisation for giving complete cooperation for the peaceful organisation of this Yatra,” the Chief Minister said. Responding to questions regarding a demand raised by the Opposition about allowing the judicial inquiry to be initiated under the sitting judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court to investigate the allegations raised against Minister of State Sandeep Singh, the Chief Minister said that the matter is still pending in the court. However, in any case, an inquiry Commission is constituted once the investigation by the concerned investigating agency is completed. “The investigation in this matter is currently being done and we have full faith in the police.”
