CHANDIGARH: Senior Congress leader and opposition leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday slammed the AAP government in Punjab, accusing it of a “deliberate and deceitful attempt” to sideline the Punjabi language and deprive local youth of job opportunities in the recruitment for 166 posts in Sugarfed Punjab.
Bajwa claimed that the AAP government initially attempted to dilute the requirement of Punjabi language proficiency by allowing candidates who hadn’t passed Punjabi in Matric to appear for the examination, on the condition that they clear a basic Punjabi test during their three-year probation.
"It was a clear attempt to recruit non-Punjabis by stealth. Only after a massive public outcry and media backlash did the government take a panicked U-turn and declare Punjabi compulsory again. This is not governance, it’s deceit,” Bajwa said.
He accused the AAP government of trying to sneak in policies that betray Punjab’s linguistic and cultural ethos, only to reverse course when caught red-handed. “This pattern has become a hallmark of the AAP regime, quietly undermining Punjab’s interests, then staging a course correction to save face,” Bajwa stated.
Bajwa slammed Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for allowing Delhi-based control over Punjab’s institutions, saying the entire episode was yet another example of AAP’s top-down interference, which continues to erode Punjab’s autonomy and identity.
“Punjabis are alert. They refused to be fooled this time. AAP’s latest scheme was a direct assault on Punjabiyat—and the people of Punjab stopped it in its tracks,” Bajwa declared.
Calling the reversal a victory of public awareness over political manipulation, Bajwa demanded strict safeguards to prevent such attempts in the future and urged the government to come clean with a white paper on language-based recruitment decisions.
“Punjab belongs to Punjabis—not to outsiders who want to exploit it from Delhi. We won’t allow anyone to tamper with our language, our jobs, or our identity,” Bajwa warned.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring accepted the challenge of state Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, suggesting that there should be a dope test of the Congress and the Akali leaders.
At the same time, he regretted that Cheema, instead of taking the matter seriously was trying to politicise it and resort to the blame game. "While I welcome Cheema’s suggestion, let me ask why dope tests are only for the Akali and Congress leaders, why not the AAP leaders also?” he asked, while suggesting that there should be periodical dope tests of all political leaders, and it should include liquor also.
He suggested bringing in legislation to enforce periodic dope tests on every leader and public representative.
Explaining his suggestion that there should be debate on allowing the cultivation of the poppy, Warring said, during his interaction with the people of border villages in Lambi and Muktsar area, he was told that there is not much ‘synthetic drug’ addiction as people get poppy husk from the licensed vends in the bordering Rajasthan and it is far less harmful than the synthetic drugs.
He said it is an accepted fact that poppy husk is less dangerous than synthetic drugs. He said, drug addiction is a reality, and to finish it is a challenging task. Merely registering 9000 cases or demolishing a few houses of petty peddlers is not going to solve the problem, he noted.
He said, there are reports of about 8 or 9 deaths due to the drug overdose after May 31, the deadline set by the Punjab government to finish drugs from the state.
He pointed out, Canada and several states in the US have legalised marijuana. Why can’t there be a debate about allowing traditional things like poppy in India, he asked, while adding, even the de-addiction tablets, which are provided to the addicts are so addictive that it is equally difficult to get rid of them like the regular addiction.