BJP misused BPL cards to lure voters: Deepender

Congress Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda on Wednesday accused the BJP for indulging in a “BPL card for vote” scam in Haryana, alleging that the ruling party misused poverty cards to lure voters ahead of the 2024 elections.

He was interacting with mediapersons after the inauguration of the District Congress Committee office in Karnal city and said the BJP could go to any extent to win elections and capture power by using “lies, loot, and division.” He claimed that just before the polls, the BJP government increased the number of BPL cards from 27 lakh to 51 lakh, placing nearly 75 per cent of the state’s population below the poverty line. “Such poverty did not exist even at the time of Independence,” Hooda said, adding that after distributing a few months of free rations, over 10 lakh BPL cards were cancelled post-elections.

“The BJP gave two to three months of free rations for five years of power. Their next package of deception is the Rs 2,100 monthly pension scheme for women, where the government has now imposed multiple conditions,” he alleged.

Expressing concern over the worsening problem of waterlogging across Haryana, Hooda said in the past 11 years, the BJP government had neither constructed new drains nor canals, forcing lakhs of farmers and citizens to suffer heavy losses. He demanded that the government should conduct a special girdawari and announce compensation of at least Rs 50,000 per acre, as the farmers had lost two successive crops this season. “The government simply opens a compensation portal but shuts its doors to the people,” Hooda criticised.

On being asked about the remarks of Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s remarks on former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other Congress leaders being “unemployed,” Deepender Hooda countered, “Khattar Sahib himself remained in the Opposition for many years. Does that mean the Opposition is unemployed? Are the 42 MLAs elected in Haryana unemployed? Are MPs in the Lok Sabha unemployed? In democracy, both government and Opposition have roles to play—and when the ruling party becomes unrestrained, the role of the Opposition becomes even greater. If unemployment means not doing any work, then the BJP fits that definition, as it has done nothing in the last 11 years.”

On BJP’s protests against the Congress over a derogatory remark made during Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra,’ Hooda clarified, “That person’s statement had nothing to do with the Congress. Perhaps he was not in the right frame of mind. But when the BJP leaders make objectionable remarks on women, why does the Prime Minister remain silent?”