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KURUKSHETRA: Former chief minister and leader of the opposition in Haryana Vidhan Sabha Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said the BJP is committing a great betrayal against the poor people of Haryana. This government took the votes of the poor by issuing ration cards during the elections, and now their ration cards are being arbitrarily canceled.Hooda was in Kurukshetra to offer condolences to the families of former minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha’s wife and MLA Ramkaran Kala’s elder brother, who recently passed away.Speaking to reporters later, Hooda said the BJP government is committing a great injustice against the poor in the name of Family IDs. “Ration cards of 70,000 families have been canceled in the last six months alone due to minor errors in names, ages, and other details,” he said.“This is not just a statistic, but a painful story of snatching food from the plates of thousands of poor families. Earlier, Haryana topped the entire country by canceling approximately 14 lakh ration cards,” he added.“Ration cards are being canceled, pensions are being stopped due to minor errors in Family IDs, and people are forced to make rounds of district Saral Kendras (government service centers) for months. Most concerning is that even after correcting the errors, the ration and pensions of many families are not being restored. According to reports, the pensions of more than 500,000 people have been stopped so far,” he pointed out.Hooda said that the BJP added 1 crore additional people to the BPL (Below Poverty Line) category to garner votes in the 2024 elections, and immediately after securing votes, they started arbitrarily canceling ration cards.“In response to a question asked during the winter session of Parliament, the central government stated that 4,141,385 ration cards were canceled across the country, with the Haryana government topping the list with 1,343,474 cancellations,” the former Chief Minister said.Hooda questioned why so many ration cards were issued before the elections and why they are being canceled now? “Why is the government not answering this question,” he asked.
