Manohar Lal Khattar

Personal life

Khattar belongs to a Khatri family. Khattar was born in 1954 in Nindana village of Meham Chobisi, tehsil in Rohtak district of Haryana. His father, Harbans Lal Khattar, was of the Arora caste, who migrated to Haryana from Jhang district of Pakistan following the Partition of India in 1947. His family initially settled in the Banyani village of Rohtak district and took up farming.

Khattar completed his matriculation (final year of high school) from Pandit Neki Ram Sharma Government College, Rohtak. He then moved to Delhi, and ran a shop near Sadar Bazar while completing his bachelor's degree from Delhi University.

Political career

Khattar joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1977, and became a full-time pracharak three years later. As a pracharak, he is a lifelong bachelor. He worked as a full-time pracharak for 14 years before moving to BJP, in 1994.

During 2000–2014, Khattar was Organizational General Secretary of the BJP in Haryana. He was the Chairman of BJP's Haryana Election Campaign Committee for 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. Subsequently, he became a member of BJP's National Executive Committee.

In 2014, Khattar was nominated as BJP's candidate from Karnal constituency for the Haryana Legislative Assembly election, 2014. The party's workers and supporters in Karnal launched a signature campaign, asking the party leadership to field a local candidate instead of him. His opponent, the Indian National Congress candidate Surender Singh Narwal, accused Khattar of being an "outsider" not native to Karnal. He claimed that during Narendra Modi's campaign rally, people raised slogans such as Bahari bhagao, Karnal bachao ("Send the outsider back home, save Karnal"). During his election campaign, in response to a question on Khaps, Khattar stated that girls must not "lure" boys and must wear decent clothes to not attract the opposite sex.

In the elections, the BJP gained a majority in Haryana for the first time, and Khattar won his maiden election by a margin of 63,736 votes. During a party meeting, his name was proposed for the Chief Minister of Haryana post by Haryana BJP President Ram Bilas Sharma, seconded by other strong Chief Minister of Haryana claimant Rao Inderjeet Singh and supported by many MLAs. He became the BJP's first Chief Minister of Haryana after his swearing-in ceremony on 26 October 2014.

Police reforms

Khattar announced that Haryana will have an all-woman police station in each district and around 500 woman constables will be recruited. He also started a 24×7 portal called 'Harsamay' through which anybody can file a complaint online.

He has also suggested that Yoga to be a part of police constables training to help keep the police personnel mentally and physically fit. According to media reports, Khattar has said that Police recruitments would be made on Transparent Recruitment Policy (TRP) and 3,060 new houses would be constructed for police personnel at a cost of Rs 550 crore in next three years.

E-governance

Manohar Lal Khattar has introduced e-services through Common Service Centres including biometric attendance system in all the government offices through which attendance of all officers will be available online and monitored.

Women's empowerment

Manohar Lal Khattar's Government has been in news for taking steps to implement Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana scheme that was flagged off by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The child sex ratio has been improved in Haryana since he assumed power. It is now 889 girls per 1,000 boys. "Efforts are being made to further take it (child sex ratio) to above 900," Khattar has said in a public statement.

Development

Khattar has announced two new road projects, 'Northern Peripheral Road' and 'Southern Peripheral Road' to ease traffic jams in Gurgaon and improve connectivity for commuters. He is also said to have submitted proposals for launching Regional Rapid Rail Transit services at Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar and Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat to decrease dependence on roads. High-speed cable car facility is also underway for which discussions are on with a Spanish company.

Construction of memorial

Manohar Lal Khattar has publicly declared that his government will build a memorial to mark the sacrifice of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Pathankot.

Controversies

Mr Khattar has been dubbed as an inefficient administrator and one having little administrative experience , with the way he has handled the crises of the various andolans and recently of the Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa . Some commentators say he is being politically framed and others say he is just a greenhorn .