Forcing people to purchase National flag wrong: Hooda

Chandigarh, August 11

Attacking the state government over the Karnal incident where a ration depot holder was allegedly found forcing people to buy the Tricolour along with rations, former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said forcibly selling flags for Rs 20 each to the poor PDS beneficiaries was “condemnable”.

Agnipath will hit Army strength

The strength of the Army has already come down from 14 to 12 lakh.... This will come down to half in the coming few years because of the Agnipath scheme... reducing the strength of the Army can prove dangerous. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress leader

He said it should be voluntary. “I saw the video. Why are they forcing people to pay Rs 20 for the flag,” he said.

Taking a jibe at CM Manohar Lal, he said, “Taras aata hai mujhe mere hakim ki fakiri par, jo garib se inki paseene ki kamai mange (I feel pity for my rulers’ poverty, for he seeks the hard-earned money of the poor).” On the Agnipath scheme, he said it was neither in the interest of the youth nor the country. “The strength of the Army has already come down from 14 to 12 lakh, due to non-recruitment during the Covid period. This will come down to half in the coming few years because of the Agnipath scheme. In view of the challenges faced by such a vast country, reducing the strength of the Army can prove dangerous,” he said.

“There is so much unemployment in the country that thousands of youths will queue up even if the government comes out with a scheme for four months, instead of four years. In Haryana, we have seen graduates, postgraduates and even PhD holders applying for the posts of peon,” he said. On the functioning of the state government, he said debt was nearing Rs 3 lakh crore but in the House, they would argue that income from mining has been rising. Comparison with our regime was wrong as the rupee had a different value at that time, he said.

Hooda said the Opposition raised several issues of public interest in the monsoon session of the Assembly and even the MLAs of the BJP and JJP themselves complained of corruption and problems in the state. “Everyone knows there have been many scams under the present government. The government constitutes SITs in the name of investigation, but the reports of these panels never come,” he said.

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