Leader of Opposition in Haryana Assembly Abhey Singh Chautala has questioned the move of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana to celebrate the birth centenary of its ideologue Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhayay.

In an official letter written to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Chuatala has alleged that public money is being used to celebrate the birth centenary of a person (Upadhyay) who is not known to have remotely contributed to the public life of Haryana.

Accusing the Khattar government of doing wasteful expenditure on the celebration of the birth centenary of Upadhayay, Chuatala through his letter has said, "To the best of my knowledge Pandit Upadhayay is not known to have made any contribution for the uplift of the people of Haryana and much less in the creation and making of our beloved state. I am not even aware of his contribution to the evolution of the idea of India, during his lifetime or after, though this myth might have been sought to be manufactured after BJP came to power."

Chautala's letter to Khattar further reads as, "However, I will concede that Pandit Upadhayay must have inspired the volunteers of Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (RSS) and continues to do so; I also conceded that he must be an inspiration to the party workers and leaders of the BJP, including you. In this light, I am sure you will concede that the celebration of his birth centenary is, at best, an internal affair of the RSS and the BJP. It is in this context that I, individually and as the Leader of the Opposition, feel offended and outraged by the fact that the centenary celebrations of a person admired by a political party should be funded from the exchequer of Haryana. As a political party, BJP has the right to celebrate the lifetime of its leaders in the manner of its choice, but using public funds simply because it happens to be in the government, is gross misuse of power and amounts to corruption."

Finally, it is possible that I have reacted prematurely, and that, your government is in the process of celebrating the lifetime of all those people who dedicated their lives to create the state of Haryana, and made innumerable sacrifices in the process. If it is so, I will be grateful if a list of such great sons of Haryana is provided to me and also made public. If not, then I am afraid that we the people of Haryana deeply resent this wasteful expenditure and urge you to stop it forthwith, Chautala added.

Chautala further stated that as a farmer and the grandson of Chaudhary Devi Lal who not only played a role in the freedom struggle of our country but also led the movement for the rights of the tenants in Haryana, he is a little disappointed that in this centenary year of the Chamapran satyagraha that marked the non-violent struggle for India’s freedom, the state government has not given a thought to that epoch turning event.