Leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday appealed to all those MLAs, who had been offering to quit in support of ongoing farmers’ agitation surrounding farm laws, to instead vote against the ruling BJP-JJP government during the no-confidence motion to be brought by the Congress in the next Assembly session.
“The Congress is going to bring a no-confidence motion against the coalition government in the upcoming Assembly session. All those MLAs, who had in the past few days extended their support to farmers and offered to resign should vote against the government. If legislators such as Abhay Chautala of the INLD resign, then the Opposition will have one vote less and it will indirectly help the government. All legislators who oppose the three laws should vote against the government in the House, instead of resigning. This will also let the public know who stands with the farmers and who is with the government,” he said.
Appeal for peace
Mr. Hooda appealed to the farmers to continue their movement in a peaceful and disciplined manner. “In democracy, non-violence is the biggest weapon of the movement. I hope that the farmers will finally prevail,” he said.
Mr. Hooda accused the State government of deliberately creating a situation of confrontation with farmers. Criticising Chief Minister Manohar Lal’s ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ at Kaimla village of Karnal, Mr. Hooda questioned the rationale behind the Chief Minister holding the event.
On Sunday, a crowd, mostly of farmers, ransacked the venue of the programme, meant to highlight the advantages of the new farm laws.
‘Provocative steps’
“When the farmers of the area were opposing the Chief Minister’s programme, why did the government insist on organising it? If the government wanted to stop creating a tense situation, it could have simply cancelled the event in view of the protest, but it did not do so. The government should not push the State towards anarchy by taking provocative steps,” he said.
