After his Jan Samvad (public-connect) programmes in Sirsa district got disrupted for three consecutive days, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has decided to give the event a break in the month of June. However, Khattar will hold another Jan Samvad programme in Mahendragarh, the last one this month from May 24-26. Under the Jan Samvad programme that started on April 2, Khattar has covered Bhiwani, Palwal, Kurukshetra and Sirsa districts. Khattar concluded his Jan Samvad programme in Sirsa on May 16. A day later on May 17, he called the disruptions in his Jan Samvad programme “outside the limits of democracy”. He added that the “district administration shall be asked to check all such people who create such disruptions.” Opposition parties had launched an attack on Khattar for his ‘remarks’ in response to the disruptions. In response to the criticisms, Khattar had said: “We are getting immense public response even at the places where we [BJP] did not have any seat. But yes, we shall definitely check such people of a few political parties who attempt to create disruption in such programmes. We shall also ask the administration to check such people so that nobody should be allowed to create such disruptions. I would rather say that not only our programmes, but we shall also take action against those people who would create disruption in any other political party’s programme too. Because, in a democracy, everybody has a right to speak. If the Opposition has any issues or questions, they can also ask us through the media. We always reply to that. Even we seek their (Opposition’s) replies through the media, seek their suggestions too. But creating disruptions in such programmes (Jan Samvad) is outside the limits of democracy.” The next Jan Samvad programme, in Mahendragarh, shall be the fifth in the series. Before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Khattar is aiming to cover all the districts of Haryana, said sources. According to the party sources, the Jan Samvad programme shall not be held in June because the BJP would be focusing on the nationwide campaign highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nine years of governance. After Mahendragarh, the next Jan Samvad programme would be held in the first week of July. State officials said Khattar has so far covered over 50 villages in four districts of Haryana. Under the Jan Samvad programme, he had been directly interacting with the beneficiaries of over 18 welfare schemes of the state government. Khattar’s Jan Samvad programmes were attended by over 32,000 people and approximately 5,900 grievances were received by the government. All such grievances were being uploaded on the Jan Samvad portal so that their timely redressal could be ensured. From July onwards, all ministers and MLAs of the BJP would also be holding similar public-connect programmes in their respective constituencies or any other area assigned to them by the party. Government officials added that 158 complaints received during these Jan Samvad programmes have been redressed. “The initiative of Jan Samvad programme, started by Chief Minister Sh. Manohar Lal to go among the people and interact with them as the head of the family to redress their grievances has now become a new hope for the people. The people of the villages are putting forth their demands, suggestions and problems during the programmes, which is getting on-the-spot redressal by the chief minister,” a state government spokesperson said.
