Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's oblique reply to a simple query related to livelihood by a woman has become the topic of slugfet between opposition parties and the BJP.
A video filmed during Khattar's interacton with a woman in Hisar has stoked controversy. In the video, the Chief Minister is seen giving an awkward answer to the query of the woman who requested the CM to ensure setting up of factory in her area so that women can find employment.
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"Honorable Chief Minister, my only demand is that you should try to set up a factory here so that our women can work," she told Khattar. In response, CM was heard saying, "Next time when Chandrayaan 4 will go above the moon, you will be sent in it." The CM also asked the woman to keep quiet and sit down. Aam Aadmi Party and Congress were quick to launch an attcak on Khattar.
In a messge on X, fprmerly Twitter, Aam Aadmi Party wroe, "Shame on such a Chief Minister, who was elected by the public to serve. Today, he is making fun of the public. The woman's crime was that she asked for a factory for employment. If the billionaire friends of Modi ji had made this demand for their personal benefit, then Khattar Saheb would have embraced them and put the whole government in their service." Randeep Surjewala also took to X to express his party's objecion to Khattar's comment. "The sense of contempt and disrespect towards women is in the DNA of BJP/RSS only. The BJP CM of Haryana, in the arrogance of power, is shamelessly displaying the same anti-women thinking."
When reached for reaction, Haryana government's media secretary Praveen Atre said, "Some leaders are fond of being in headlines. They are experts in making such videos viral. But it is important for the public to know the reality of these videos being made viral along with half-baked information." Atre further said Chief Minister also said there are 55,000 self-help groups in Haryana and around 5 lakh women are engaged in the SHG works. "The CM said about Chandrayaan in a funny manner. But the opposition leaders picked up the Chandrayan part without mentioning what he said about SHGs," Atre added.
