Verbal spat between Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his Congress predecessor Bhupinder Singh Hooda over reward for Miss World Manushi Chhillar escalated further on Friday when the former took a serious note of the latter’s statement wherein he tried to take a jibe at Khattar unmarried status saying that those who don’t have daughters can’t understand how to honour them.
Condemning Hooda for his personal comment, Khattar said that one should not indulge in such cheap politics and refrain from making personal comments. He said, “Although I did not raise my own family and have no son or daughter, yet I always remain deeply concerned about the sons and daughters of the state, and considered them as his family. For me, the whole Haryana is my family.”
“If the former chief minister was so concerned about the daughters, why he did not take any steps during his tenure to curb the social evil of female foeticide which was mainly responsible for the imbalanced sex ratio in the state. The present government has not only been successful in addressing the problem of skewed sex ratio which had become a blot on the fair name of the state, but also saved the lives of thousands of girls who used to be killed in the womb of the mother. Hooda cannot feel the pain of a father more than him,” Khattar said.
The chief minister said Manushi Chillar had brought laurels to the country and the state on her own, and she would be suitably honoured after a round of consultation with her.
The controversy began few days ago when Hooda raised a demand of honouring Chhillar by offering a plot and Rs Six Crore for winning the Miss World 2017 title. However, Khattar flayed Hooda for it and said, “What the former Chief Minister offered is his temperament, as his thinking is confined only to plots and cash. One should think above all this”.
This led a political war of words between the two leaders and subsequently, Hooda hi back at Khattar saying that the latter could not value his demand as he was not a father. Meanwhile, Incharge, All India Congress Committee (AICC), Communication, Randeep Singh Surjewala too joined the political controversy over the issue saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not have a culture to understand such issues.
Meanwhile, an official spokesperson revealed that Chhillar is coming to Kurukshetra on 30 November and would also participate in a programme to be organised at Bhagat Phool Singh Women University in Khanpur Kalan, district Sonipat on 1 December.
The state government plans to utilise her services for a social cause, he added.