Govt asks A-G to make corrections

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 5

The Haryana Government has initiated the process of deleting Hisar MP Dushyant Singh Chautala’s name from the Prakash Singh Committee report which attributed a controversial statement to him. Home Secretary Ram Niwas today confirmed that he had requested Advocate-General Baldev Raj Mahajan to make necessary corrections in the report.

The government move comes a day after Prakash Singh wrote a letter admitting the faux pas as a bona fide mistake and expressing his deep regrets to Dushyant Singh Chautala.

In chapter 4 of his report on ‘Role of officers of the civil administration and police during the Jat reservation agitation’, Prakash Singh had attributed a statement to Dushyant Chautala allegedly made in a speech in second Vishal Jat Mahasabha.

The alleged statement eulogised Jat youths by saying ‘Loha Tata ka, Joota Bata ka aur Chhora Jatan ka are the best in the world’ (Tata’s steel, Bata’s shoes and Jats’ sons are the best in the world).

Incensed over the dragging of his name in the report, Dushyant Singh had threatened to move a privilege motion against Prakash Singh and sent notices to him as well as five senior functionaries of the government. 

Withdraw it or face legal action: Dushyant 

Chandigarh: Despite former IPS officer Parkash Singh regretting the wrong attribution of an ‘inflammatory’ statement to Hisar MP Dushyant Singh Chautala in his report, the latter today threatened legal action in case the government did not withdraw the report completely and tender an apology to him within seven days.

Talking to mediapersons here today, the INLD MP alleged that the BJP government had used the Prakash Singh Committee report to cover up its own failures and defame him and his party.

Dushyant Singh said  he had read in the media that Parkash Singh had expressed  regrets for “attributing a statement to me that I never made but I have so far not received any former letter from him or the government.

He said it was all the more surprising that in his letter of regrets Prakash Singh has said: “It may not be out of place to mention that the impugned remarks are neither derogatory nor defamatory for any individual, community or organisation” and yet he has used it in his report’s chapter ‘Adding fuel to the fire’. 

He said Prakash Singh could tomorrow object to the Jat Regiment’s slogan ‘Jat Balwan, Jai Bhagwan,’

 He asked the government to withdraw the report from every institution, including the courts, or face legal action.