CHANDIGARH India: The killing of innocent per sons on the Haryana Roadway buses and the reaction to the dominated the: debate in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on July 13th as member after member alleged that Union Environment Minister, Bhajan Lal was guilty of abetting and inciting these incidents in order to destabilize the Devi Lal government. While his Cabinet colleagues, the Finance Minister Banarsi Das Gupta and the irrigation and power minister Virinder Singh also joined the B.J.P. and Lok Dal legislators in coming down heavily on Bhajan Lal, Chief Minister Devi Lal did not go into the details of the incidents. He simply said that Mr. Gupta has said ‘everything that needed to be said on the subject.
Allegations against Bhajan Lal were made during the day long debate on the motion of thanks for the Governor which was unanimously passed by voice vote. Virinder Singh said that the circumstantial evidence pointed out to Bhajan Lal’s involvement and retaining the Environment Minister in Union Cabinet would bring about the Haryana type of results when the Lok Sabha polls are held in a couple of years from now. The Finance Minister said that members were not making baseless allegations. Bhajan Lal’s comments prior to and after the action apart, the pattern of the incidents was different from what was happening in Punjab. In Punjab women were never humiliated and made to suffer indignities as has been the case in Dayapur.
While the gunmen use sophisticated American and Chinese weapons, a country made pistol was recovered from the Dayapur massacre site, Mr. Gupta elaborated.
Mangal Sen of B.J.P. demanded that the case should be instituted for inciting the people of villages of Maubropur and Dhakker to rob the minorities in Fatehbad Mrs. Sushma, also from the B.J.P. said that Dayapur incidents were the result of deep rooted conspiracy as the Haryana government even settled down in office.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 24, 1987
