Chandigarh, Aug 4 (IANS) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said on Tuesday that the Congress had always pursued vote-bank politics and used the poor, backward classes and Scheduled Castes merely for political gains.
Referring to former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Saini added that a leader who had stood firmly with the Punjab Congress during difficult times was now being sidelined by his own party.
“In a way, the Congress has insulted Dalits and other deprived sections of society,” the Haryana CM said.
“It is unfortunate,” he told the media here.
Responding to a query on the NEET paper leak case, CM Saini said the Union government had taken decisive action, while the Congress and the INDIA alliance had consistently sought to mislead the youth on the issue.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dedicated his entire life to the welfare of every section of society and continues to work tirelessly in the service of the nation, with safeguarding the future of the country’s youth among his foremost priorities.
He added that the Centre had enacted stringent laws to deal with paper leak cases, ensured strict action against those responsible and made the recruitment process fully transparent.
“PM Modi treated the issue with utmost seriousness and made it unequivocally clear that anyone attempting to jeopardise the future of the country’s youth would not be spared.”
“No one has the right to play with the aspirations and future of young people,” the Haryana Chief Minister said.
He added that today’s generation had not witnessed the conditions that prevailed during the Congress government.
“Recruitment processes lacked transparency and candidates often had to travel on the roofs of buses merely to appear for examinations,” he said.
“Even when question papers were leaked, there was hardly any accountability, leaving young aspirants to bear the consequences.”
The Chief Minister said the Congress had ignored the future of the youth for years in pursuit of vote-bank politics.
The people of the country, he added, now understood the politics of the Congress and the INDIA alliance and would no longer be misled by them.
Replying to a query on the Punjab Assembly’s resolution condemning paper leaks, the Chief Minister questioned whether the Punjab government had adopted a similar resolution over the recent pharmacy examination paper leak in the state.
Referring to the recently declared recruitment examination results in Punjab, CM Saini said the names of several successful candidates had themselves raised serious questions and reflected the concerns being expressed by the state’s youth over the fairness of the recruitment process.
The Chief Minister said that the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) should answer the youth on issues relating to recruitment examinations.
Recalling an earlier statement by AAP leader Manish Sisodia that the Punjab Education Minister (Harjot Singh Bains) would resign if a paper leak occurred in the state, CM Saini said the silence over recent incidents clearly exposed the gap between the party’s words and actions.
–IANS
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