Congress MP Deepender Hooda on Tuesday (August 4) questioned the decision to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Gujarat, demanding that Haryana be made the host or co-host state for the event.
In a post on X, Hooda wrote, “Haryana gets medals, but why does Gujarat get the Games?”
“Today, along with fellow Haryana MPs Jai Parkash JP, Varun Mullana, Satpal Brahmachari, and Karmbir Bauddh, I staged a protest in the Parliament complex demanding that Haryana be made the host or co-host state for the 2030 Commonwealth Games,” he said.
Later, speaking to news agency ANI, Hooda emphasised that investment in sports infrastructure for the Games should benefit Haryana and expressed hope that India would emerge as the top-performing country at the 2030 Commonwealth Games.
“We are happy that India is getting a chance to host the Commonwealth Games. Now I urge the government to choose Haryana as the state where those games are to be hosted. Over the last 15-20 years, Haryana is the state which has brought home over 50 per cent of India’s medals in major competitions. If lakhs of crores of funds are going to be spent on developing sports infrastructure in a particular part of our country, it should be Haryana. Because Haryana’s players have proven it,” he said.
He also said that the central government should follow ‘Raj Dharma’, where every state is viewed as equal, alleging that they were following ‘Rajya Dharma’ by bringing all the major facilities and projects to Gujarat. “India should be the number one country in the Commonwealth Games 2030. I think in the interest of the nation, Haryana should be considered, if not the host, at least co-host. There is a thing called Raj Dharm: that every state is equal. The government should follow that. They are following Rajya Dharm,” he said.
Commonwealth Games 2030 to be held in India
Hooda’s remarks came days after India formally took over the hosting rights for the 2030 Commonwealth Games, with Ahmedabad, Gujarat, set to host the centenary edition of the multi-sport event.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games concluded on Sunday (August 2) in Glasgow, with Scotland formally handing over the Commonwealth Games flag and ceremonial baton to India, which will host the landmark centenary edition in 2030, during a glittering closing ceremony at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro on Sunday.
The 2030 Commonwealth Games will be held in Ahmedabad, making India only the second nation after Australia to host the multi-sport event on more than one occasion. India had previously staged the Games in New Delhi in 2010.
India enjoyed an impressive outing on the sporting front, finishing fourth in the medals table with a total of 39 medals—13 gold, 17 silver and nine bronze—to conclude a successful Commonwealth Games campaign.
Although India’s tally was lower than the 61 medals won in Birmingham in 2022, the context tells a different story. Thirty of those medals had come in sports that were dropped from the Glasgow programme. Despite sending a significantly smaller contingent of 122 athletes, compared to 210 in Birmingham, India retained its fourth-place finish and recorded an even stronger medal conversion rate, with 38 athletes returning home with at least one medal. Long-distance runner Gulveer Singh emerged as the country’s only multiple medallist, winning two medals.