Haryana: Dushyant Chautala says most village land gifted away to ‘dholidars’ belongs to panchayats

Cong MLAs alleged govt was trying to evict Brahmins from their donated land




As Congress attacked the government in House for allegedly harassing the Brahmin community by taking away land donated to them in villages, Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala claimed that most of the “gifted” land belonged to the panchayats.

The persons from Brahmin community who got land as gift from big landowners decades back are known as ‘dholidars’. Dushyant informed the state Assembly Tuesday that as much as 1,245 acres of panchayat land was donated to ‘dholidars’. He further claimed that apparently the panchayat land was donated only to “selective persons”.

In 2011, the then government of Bhupinder Singh Hooda had enacted a law aimed at vesting property rights of donated land to dholidars. However, the BJP government in 2018 had got an amendment passed in the Assembly barring property rights of panchayat land to dholidars.

According to Dushyant, who also holds the Revenue and Panchayat portfolios, the government has come to know about the donation of 920 acres private land, while 1,245 acres of panchayat land has been gifted away. Most of the panchayat land donated to dholidars is in Gurgaon, Palwal, Rohtak and Nuh district. The Deputy CM also said that apparently the panchayat land was donated to only “selective persons”

In the Assembly, Dushyant challenged former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to seek a probe into the donation of panchayant land. “If you demand, the government is ready to order an inquiry into the matter,” said the Deputy CM. However, Hooda kept insisting that the government should not take back the land donated to the dholidars.

The matter was raised in the Assembly by Congress MLA Kuldeep Vats, who was supported by Hooda and other legislators.

Vats said that the Congress-led state government had bestowed ownership rights of donated land to people of Brahmin community by enacting a law. He alleged that the BJP-JJP government was trying to evict the Brahmin community from their land and snatching away the entitlements of about 50,000 Brahmin families. The Haryana government, after it brought an amendment to the law in 2018, has maintained that only private land can be donated to dholidars.

After registering his protest, Vats staged walkout from the Assembly and sat on dharna in the Vidhan Sabha complex.

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