Gurugram: Ram Chander Jangra, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana, has triggered yet another controversy, this time with his claim that 700 girls from villages near the Tikri and Singhu borders went missing after protesting farmers camped there for a year in 2021.
Jangra, who referred to purported CID reports to support his statement last week, has upset farmers’ bodies and opposition parties with his claim. The Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha held a protest against him in Rohtak Monday.
Inderjit Singh, vice-president of the sabha, told ThePrint Tuesday that with his statement, Jangra had not maligned the image not only of farmers but that of society as a whole. “We demand that the Rajya Sabha chairman exercise his powers to unseat Jangra from his Rajya Sabha membership for defaming farmers and villagers, against whose daughters he has made a false statement.”
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala have also criticised Jangra for his comments.
Women’s bodies in Haryana are also upping the ante against Jangra. Jagmati Sangwan, national vice president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), the women’s wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), told ThePrint Wednesday that Jangra’s statement was irresponsible and unbecoming of an MP.
“We are writing to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha to take action against Jangra for such irresponsible comments by taking away his membership. If this is not done, the AIDWA will be forced to hit the streets,” Sangwan said.
Sources in the state CID have denied Jangra’s claims.
“There is no such report by the CID. Nor is there any information about any missing girls as stated by the MP,” a senior officer in the Haryana CID, who wished not to be named, told ThePrint.
Contacted by ThePrint Wednesday for his response to the CID’s assertion that there was no such report that suggested girls were missing from villages, Jangra was evasive in his response and said he heard people talking about this in villages.
In a public speech delivered in Meham on 12 December and posted on his Facebook page, Jangra referred to purported CID reports to support his claim about girls missing.
That day, he attended the inauguration of a sugarcane crushing session at Meham Cooperative Sugar Mills in Rohtak. During his speech, he made the said controversial claims about the farmers’ movement.
In his speech, a video of which is also available on his Facebook page, Jangra said, “Since 2021, children in villages have been dying untimely deaths. Some are injecting drugs, others consuming chitta (heroin), bhukki (opium) and cocaine. Many are also smoking smack (black tar heroin). In 2021, drug addicts who sat at Tikri and Singhu borders spread the drug network across Haryana.”
Jangra added: “You can check the CID report. Around 700 girls from villages near the Singhu and Tikri borders went missing. No one knows where they are.
“A man was murdered and his body was hung on the road. These are not farmers; they are butchers.”
Jangra further said that prior to 2021, Haryana’s addiction problem was limited to beedis, cigarettes and alcohol, but the farmers’ movement introduced cocaine, opium, smack and drug injections to the state.
He added: “Because Punjab is a border state with Pakistan, drugs entered there. When addicts came here, demand and supply networks started operating. Drug peddlers also saw an opportunity to establish a market in Haryana.”
He pinned the blame on the police and administration for being preoccupied with managing the protest, giving drug peddlers a chance to expand their networks.
Jangra also said that he had appealed to farmers to present legitimate demands directly to the government rather than sealing Delhi’s borders which, he claimed, caused “infamy”.
Also Read: Woman thrown out of house after triple talaq, Haryana cops book her husband & in-laws
Jangra’s past comments
This isn’t the first time that Jagra has found himself in the middle of a controversy.
In August this year, he faced a backlash from nurses and women’s organisations in the state for his remarks on their profession while narrating an anecdote.
“A Haryanvi man was lying on the hospital bed due to some health issue when a beautiful nurse came and held his hand, asking him about his discomfort. The man replied that if she (the nurse) kept holding his hand, he would not have any discomfort,” Jangra had said.
In April 2024, Jangra made controversial comments on the Muslim community, describing them as artisans who produce country-made firearms.
“Had the Congress utilised their (Muslims’) talent during its regime and given the slogan of ‘Make In India’ like Prime Minister Narendra Modi did, they would have made AK47 rifles here and the Congress would not have had to import them from abroad,” he had said.
In 2022, he described torn jeans as “Europe’s garbage” and said girls these days prefer that.
“However, this is not fashion but a symbol of poverty. Europe had too much of this garbage and sent that to India because it knew that India had so many copycats who would buy this garbage,” he said.
Considered close to former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Jangra was elected to the Rajya Sabha in March 2022.
Jangra, who is from Meham, he was also close to former chief minister Bansi Lal when he headed his Haryana Vikas Party (HVP)-BJP government in Haryana from 1996 to 1999.
He joined the BJP ahead of the 2014 Haryana assembly elections and contested the polls from Gohana. However, he finished third.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
