Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday urged the people of Punjab to give the BJP a chance in the 2027 Assembly elections, asserting that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party could free the state from the drug menace and bring an end to religious conversions.
Addressing a “Badlav” rally in Killi Chahlan village in Moga district, Shah said Punjab had suffered due to mounting debt, drugs, corruption, religious conversions, and gangsterism, and called on voters to bring the BJP to power in the next Assembly polls. He added that if the BJP forms the government in Punjab after the 2027 polls, a law banning religious conversions would be brought in the state.
“All of Punjab is facing the issue of religious conversions. I am saying this to all Hindu and Sikh brothers and sisters: you form the BJP government once, we will bring a Bill to ban religious conversions,” Shah said. He accused the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of facilitating conversions for vote-bank politics and cited the sacrifice of the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, who laid down his life to stop religious conversions. “From this land, I want to say this today, if Guru Tegh Bahadurji was not there, there would not be a single Hindu left in India today,” Shah said, also paying homage to Guru Nanak Dev and Guru Gobind Singh.
Shah said Punjab had already given multiple opportunities to the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal, and the AAP, and should now allow the BJP to form a government. Targeting the government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, he alleged that the administration was steeped in corruption and had turned into an “ATM” for AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.
He said the BJP had effectively launched its campaign for the 2027 Assembly elections from Moga and appealed to the people of Punjab for their support. Referring to the BJP’s earlier alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal in the state, Shah said the party had previously contested elections as a junior partner but would now fight to form the government on its own.
The Union minister said that if Punjab wanted to overcome the drug menace, it required a “double-engine” government led by the BJP. Citing the Centre’s actions elsewhere, he pointed to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and said Naxalism was nearing its end.
Shah also alleged that industries were leaving Punjab and said previous governments had failed to address unemployment. He urged voters to give the BJP an opportunity to bring change in the state. Elaborate security arrangements were in place for the rally. Moga is located in Punjab’s politically significant Malwa region, which accounts for 69 of the state’s 117 Assembly seats.
Earlier this month, Shah had spoken about religious conversions in Punjab during the “Hind-Di-Chadar” commemoration event in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, marking the 350th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur, and appealed to the AAP government to put an end to the practice, which he said was driven by “greed.”
(With inputs from PTI)