Hooda's tractor-pulling stunt reveals Congress' 'dictatorship', says Haryana HM Anil Vij

Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Friday demanded action against former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for 'insulting' the party's women workers by making them pull his tractor with ropes. Vij said the incident exposes the 'dictatorship of Congress over women and backward class people'. 

A video showing a woman Congress MLA pulling a tractor driven by Hooda and other Congress leaders during a protest against fuel hike has triggered controversy. The incident, which took place on International Women's Day received sharp reactions from the BJP which accused Congress of using women workers as "Bandhua Mazdoor" to pull off a political tractor stunt.

NCW takes cognizance

Taking cognizance of the shocking incident, National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma that the act 'lowered the dignity of women'. Condemning Hooda's insensitivity, she urged any women MLAs who were forced to take part in the event to file a complaint to the NCW.

Reacting to visuals of women MLAs allegedly pulling a tractor driven by ex-CM Bhupinder Hooda on Women's Day, CM Manohar Lal Khattar broke down in the Haryana Assembly on Tuesday. He said it pained him to see his predecessor riding a tractor during a protest and women legislators pulling it with ropes. 

Khattar said, "If they had to protest, women members should have been sitting on the tractor and their male counterparts should have pulled it. I could not sleep all night. You should be ashamed of yourself. If you had to protest, you should have pulled the tractor."