HISAR: After condemning urban people and banias, the president of the Samajwadi Janata Party, Devi Lal, has singled out Punjabi settlers for his attack.

The former deputy prime minister at a press conference at the PWD Resh House here on Friday evening, described Punjabi sewers as “Pakistanis” and called them exploiters.

He said that though people of various castes had come from Pakistan, only Khatris and Aroras exploited their name. Though Jagdish Nehra (a Haryana minister) he said, had also come from Pakistan, they did not consider him a Pakistani. The present Haryana ministry, he said, comprised mainly Pakistanis, who were ‘looting’ people.

He expressed his dismay over the fact that he was dubbed a Jat leader. He said that he had always worked for the uplift of the farmers and the oppressed.

The former deputy prime minister said that he had given representation to Kambojs, Sainis, Jhinwars and Bazigars in his ministries, while Bhajan Lal cared only for ‘Pakistanis’.

He disclosed in reply to a question that he had undertaken a tour of the state to dispel any rumor that there was any move to postpone the December 15 rally at Jind. Itwould be heldas scheduled, he declared. As for Om Prakash Chautala’s reported opposition to the rally, Devi Lal said there were notruthin such rumors. Who could stop the press from writing anything? He counter-questioned.

Devi Lal said that his sole goal was lo gel majority representation to the rural people in the Union Public Service Commission as the bureaucrats, who hailed from cities and were permanent rulers, had no feeling for the rural folk. Once people from the countryside took control of the UPSC, their problems would be solved, he said.

He said the new party, which he has planned to float at the Jind rally, would aim at this target. Devi Lal said though he had made prime ministers from Morarji Desai to Chandra Shekhar, but they wrecked their parties through manipulation and thus undermined him. The fight for the rights of kisans and mazdoors had thus been weakened. The new political outfit would struggle to fulfill their, aspirations he said.

 CHANDIGARH: Devi Lal’s description of Punjabis settled in Haryana as “Pakistanis” and “looters of the state”, etc. has been widely condemned in political circles of the state.

Referring to Devi Lar’s statements at Hisar on Friday, the Haryana Vikas Party president and former chief minister, Bansi Lal, said the loss of power at the Center and in Haryana “appears-to have unhinged the senile president of the Samajwadi Janata Party”. In a desperate bid to recapture power, Devi Lal is bent upon dividing the society and the country by setting farmers against traders who he calls Darnas’, and now the original Haryanvi’s and the Punjabi settlers.

Bansi Lal said Devi Lal forgot that these groups of society were complementary and have contributed a lot to the development of Haryana.

Surinder Kumar Madaan, Minister of State for Public Relations, expressed shock at the statement of the former deputy prime minister, and refuted the allegation that the Punjabis in Bhajan Lal’s ministry were looting the people of the state.

Madaan said that Bhajan Lal had given representation to all communities and there were 10 members from the Jat community in his ministry.

Also Devi Lal had forgotten that the Punjabis had come to Haryana after making supreme sacrifices and thus established themselves as patriotic Indians, who have since contributed a lot to the development of the state.

Devi Lal’s statement was unfortunate and irresponsible, as it was dividing the persons of different communities for political gain, the minister added.

HYDEABAD: Suspected Naxalites Thursday gunned down a former Andhra Pradesh minister and prominent Congress (I) leader, Hayagreevachari at his residence in Hanamkonda in Warangal district.

Police said the killers entered the room where Hayagreevachari, who was on the naxalites hit list for along lime, was reading a newspaper and pumped bullets into him, Condemning the killing of the former minister, chief minister N Janardhang Reddy said Hayagreevachari would be cremated with state honors. The chief minister said the act of militants had only exposed their “utter cowardice and desperation” in the wake of the steps initiated by the government to fight them out.

A freedom fighter and a close associate of prime minister P.V Narasimha Rao, Hayagreevachari has held various positions in the congress party and the state government, He was a a minister in Rao’s cabinet when he was the chief minister and also was a member of the Vengal Rag and Channa Reddy cabinets:

Article extracted from this publication >> December 13, 1991