Chandigarh: Haryana Assembly on Thursday witnessed pandemonium after Sports Minister Anil Vij said he would consider renaming sports complexes named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, drawing opposition from Congress which asked the BJP to apologise for "insulting" national leaders.
The trouble began during Question Hour when ruling BJP member Sham Singh Rana asked if there was any proposal under government's consideration to construct a modern sports stadium in Radaur constituency. Replying to the question, Vij, who also holds the Health portfolio, informed the House that there are three Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Khel Parisars in village Barsan, Nagal and Golani in Radaur constituency.
As he was reading out his reply, Vij said the rural sports complexes named after Rajiv Gandhi will have to be renamed. While former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was not present in the House at that time, other Congress members, including former Speaker Kuldeep Sharma, Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhary, Karan Singh Dalal and others attacked the ruling benches over Vij's remarks.
As the tempers ran high, Vij shot back at Kuldeep Sharma, who had demanded that the minister take back his "mischievous" and "obnoxious" thinking. "Government will decide what it has to do. You (Kuldeep) are not in the government. I am talking on behalf of the government. I am a Minister, you are only a MLA. Who you are (who are you), I am very serious in what I have said," the outspoken Vij shot back. Choudhary and Dalal intervened saying they will not allow any "insult to their national leaders" and asked the ruling members to tender an apology.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar made an attempt to pacify the situation, saying government will only change anything if there is a provision under the rules and if rules won't allow, then it will not take such a step. However, this failed to satisfy Congress, who got up on their feet. Pointing towards Speaker Kanwar Pal, Dalal said since Rajiv Gandhi is not alive and cannot defend himself, his name should not be taken in the House in this manner.
Main opposition INLD's senior leader, Abhay Singh Chautala, who is also the Leader of Opposition, joined hands with the ruling BJP to hit out at the Congress. Chautala said the previous Congress government in the state should remember their own time when they had changed the name of two units of Panipat Thermal Power plant at Panipat, which were named after former Deputy Prime Minister, late Devi Lal.
INLD MLA Jaswinder Singh Sandhu also hit out at the Congress, saying "wounds of 1984 (anti-Sikh) riots are still fresh.. We are still waiting for justice".
Vij also drew support from Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar, who used the opportunity to hit out at the Congress, questioning why everything in this country was named after "just Rajiv Gandhi or Indira Gandhi".
"You take a flight at the Indira Gandhi (international airport at Delhi) and get down at Rajiv Gandhi airport," he said and questioned "is this what this country is all about". Dhankar further said there were many from martyr Bhagat Singh's family who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of this country, but today not many would be knowing of them and mentioned the name of Singh's kin Sardar Ajit Singh in this regard.
Intervening as Dhankar was speaking, Karan Singh Dalal said Nathuram Godse was a "RSS man", prompting the Speaker to ask him to take back his words and not mislead the House. Dhankar told the House that no Congressman had ever visited the Viper Jail near Port Blair, which was constructed before the Cellular jail in Andaman and Nicobar island came up.
He said the Viper Jail, where he had visited along with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, earlier, stands testimony to the sacrifices made by those who fought for freedom of this country. He, however, claimed that the Congress had planned to set up a casino at the site, since the jail was located on an island, reflecting their mindset and scant respect towards the freedom fighters of this nation.
Dhankar and Vij said that thousands of people sacrificed for the sake of this country, but only few names were taken in disproportionate manner as if others had played no role in country's freedom struggle. Kiran Chaudhary said if the government was bent upon changing names of complexes, so be it, but the party will not tolerate any "insult" to its leaders and those who made sacrifices for the sake of this country.
"This shows their narrow mindset. They are trying to play cheap politics over this issue," she said. Vij said Congress people have made the people of this country believe that as if "only Nehru-Gandhi" family fought for the freedom of this country. At this, infuriated Congress members walked out, saying they were boycotting the proceedings for rest of the day.
"They are not ready to accept the fact that country's first freedom struggle had been fought in 1857, much before a foreigner A O Hume founded the Congress party in 1885," said Vij in the absence of the Congress members and even used unparliamentary language while referring to them.
Vij, the MLA from Ambala Cantt, said that for the past five years he had been fighting to have a memorial built in Ambala in the memory of those who laid down their lives fighting the 1857 war, but the previous Congress government had allegedly created impediments. He said that if law allows, he will definitely go ahead with renaming the the complexes and added that he will take into consideration the views of the MLAs before taking a decision.
Meanwhile, Vij told reporters that the state government is considering changing the name of all Rajiv Gandhi Khel Parisars in the state. He said he has appealed to the MLAs in the House to suggest appropriate name.
Vij said at present there are 232 rural stadia in the state, of which 226 are Rajiv Gandhi Rural Khel Parisars. The money from Haryana Rural Development Fund has been spent on the construction of these stadiums. Of the 226 stadiums, 159 stadia have been made operational by Sports and Youth Affairs Department while the rest 67 are under construction.
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