CHANDIGARH: With a year left for the assembly elections in Punjab, the battle lines are clearly drawn as both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal on Wednesday separately sounded the 2027 poll bugle at the Maghi Mela in Muktsar.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who was also in Muktsar, reiterated the Punjab government’s position on the recovery of 169 missing saroops of the Guru Granth Sahib. He said the recovery of the saroops was a matter of duty rather than achievement.
Addressing a political conference organized to mark Maghi, Mann said that exploiting religion for vested political interests has bruised the psyche of the common people and is an unpardonable sin. Hinting at the Akali Dal, he said that they are hand-in-glove with forces inimical to the Sikh Panth and Punjab. "The Special Investigation Team (SIT) found 169 missing ‘saroops’ from a religious place near Banga out of which 139 have no official record. No agency, neither the SGPC nor those who managed them, had proper documentation," he said.
Mann claimed his government would hand over the ‘saroops’ to the SGPC for installation. "This is not an achievement but our duty,” he said, adding that publishing of saroops is the responsibility of the SGPC and that such institutions failed in their duty due to the Akalis. “These leaders cannot be forgiven for such sins,” he said.
He also announced that the Punjab government would make provisions for a Rs 1,000 monthly assistance scheme for women in the upcoming budget and maintained that his government has fulfilled every commitment made to the people of Punjab.
Taking a dig at opposition parties, Mann said that previous governments suffer from weak memory and are merely waiting for their turn to plunder Punjab after elections. “The ‘jhaadu’ (broom), which is the symbol of AAP, has cleaned the political system, and that is why traditional parties are baffled. These leaders are attacking me only because I come from a common family, something they are unable to digest,” he said.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said his party was committed to correcting historical injustices like diverting Punjab’s water to Rajasthan through the Rajasthan canal even as he announced a number of poll promises including free tubewell connections to all left out farmers, Rs 10 lakh interest free loans to youth and waiving road tax on motorcycles.
Addressing a party conference, Badal said, "If Punjabis vote for the SAD to form the next government in Punjab, we will introduce pro-farmer, pro-poor and pro-youth schemes besides ending gangster raj. Free tubewell connections would be given to all farmers who did not have a connection. Underground pipes will be installed to ensure canal water reaches tail ends, all lift pumps which have been removed will be reinstalled, water logging will be tackled and land rights will be given to all those ploughing land along river beds.”
Badal also said the next SAD government would eradicate the menace of gangsters from the state and would go after drug traffickers. “We will ensure drug traffickers are unable to secure bail for five years,” he said.
Asserting that unlike the AAP government which had only made announcements but done nothing, he said an SAD government would establish medical colleges in each district of the state and reserve fifty percent of all seats for poor and deserving students who would be provided education in the medical as well as veterinary colleges free of cost. "A skill university with a capacity of training 50,000 youth will be established to reverse migration from Punjab. Corporates will be brought on board to impart training as per their needs so that the youth can be appropriately absorbed in the industry,” he added.
He also announced that government jobs would be reserved for Punjabis to reverse the AAP government trend of filling them with candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. “The youth will also be eligible for an interest free Rs 10 lakh loan which they can repay in seven years."
The BJP on Wednesday organised its maiden political conference at the Mela. Senior party leaders used the platform to issue a "clarion call" for a BJP-led government in the state in 2027, focusing their attack on the ruling AAP and the Congress while notably sparing the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) from direct criticism.
Haryana Chief Minister Naib Singh Saini urged the people of the state to opt for a "double engine" government to ensure the fulfillment of electoral promises. He claimed that during the recent floods, while CM Bhagwant Mann was "admitted to a hospital," Haryana acted as a "younger brother" and sent help to distressed Punjab farmers. Saini highlighted that while Haryana is purchasing 24 crops at MSP -- the only state to do so -- Punjab is lagging.
Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar and Union Minister of State Railway Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu attacked the AAP government. Bittu slammed CM Mann for spending four years "telling lies and cracking jokes," alleging that the CM has failed to curb the drug menace and has pushed Punjab into a debt trap of Rs 4.17 lakh crore.
Former Union Minister and Member of Parliament from Hamirpur Anurag Singh Thakur said, "Today, Punjab must fight on five fronts to protect its interests and prosperity. The AAP government in Punjab has promoted anarchy, drugs, crime, corruption, and the K-Company, and the entire state must unite against this. The Punjab Police, acting at the government’s behest, has abandoned its primary duty and is instead serving the government’s political interests. Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena stands in the assembly and insults a Sikh Guru, and the Punjab Chief Minister and Punjab Police give her a clean chit—by what right?"